


The Peace Has Been Broken

by fufflebutt



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: 15k words in and theyre barely calling each other friends, Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance, Slow Burn, also bulma and vegeta aren't a couple in this sorry yall :/, and i told myself its not gunna be slowburn, canon-divergent, date january 21, dont worry about it too much, eventually, i begrudgingly add the slowburn tag, i mean i adhere to canon mostly i just change stuff i dont like, man i just wanted to write yamcha kissing my oc, oh boy, this ended up turning into a yamcha character study also if you're interested in that, yes im fine why do u ask
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 21,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28044363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fufflebutt/pseuds/fufflebutt
Summary: Four years after Cell's defeat, an unearthly stranger appears on Earth. In coming to know her, Yamcha finds his long-abandoned, juvenile dreams coming to fruition.
Relationships: Yamcha (Dragon Ball)/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 10





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been cross-posted from FF.net. Feel free to keep up with updates there, since I am more inclined to post there first: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13752630/1/The-Peace-Has-Been-Broken

Somewhere, deep beneath the ground, bones that were once not present appear. Around them coil veins and muscles, and tightening over the meat flowers skin, wrapping all around the body and securing newly formed organs inside. She becomes conscious as her clothes burn back into existence, and with an intense need to breathe, she swims through the soil to meet a great blue sky.

* * *

It’s midday in West City, and not a cloud hangs in the winter sky. At a private gym in his side of town, Yamcha is in the middle of a cardio workout on a treadmill, jogging at a steady rhythm to the music playing loudly in his music player’s earbuds. He looks down to check his time, but then his stomach lurches and he nearly trips on the treadmill, causing people to gasp in concern around him. He recovers as best he can and turns around, giving the passersby a reassuring wave.

“I--I’m all right, folks! Really,” he says with a nervous smile. Then he rushes to the locker room.

He emerges from the gym, still red and sweaty from the exercise, now in some innocuous clothing he happened to have on hand. He considers taking his car but decides against it, knowing it would take too long. He glances around for any witnesses and dashes to a nearby blindspot, where he takes off into the sky, leaving a bright blue trail of light in his wake.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: description of vomiting

As he begins to close in on the strange energy source, Yamcha begins to slow as suddenly he is unable to accurately detect it. He does, however, sense two of his friends coming in the same direction as him. He turns to see Krillin and Lazuli merging their path with him. Krillin carries something wrapped in a swaddle in his arms, and it takes Yamcha a moment to realize it’s their newborn, Marron, who is wailing over the sound of wind rushing through the air. Yamcha’s eyes widen in horror.

“Wha-- How could--” he sputters, “Why in the _world_ did you guys bring your _baby?_ ”

“Didn’t have a sitter,” Krillin answers, looking a little sheepish.

“The Hermit couldn’t watch her?” Yamcha asks.

Krillin gives him a look. “What’s a giant turtle gonna do with a tiny baby?”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

“If it makes you feel any better, she was already crying before we decided to see what’s up,” adds Lazuli, looking like she was nursing a headache.

“It kinda doesn’t but, okay, I guess,” Yamcha mutters under his breath, before continuing in a louder voice. “Where do you guys think that energy is coming from?”

“It’s hard to tell. We saw Piccolo touch down a little ways over, though, so let’s follow,” Lazuli answers, before blasting ahead of Krillin and Yamcha, who then follow suit.

When they spot silhouettes on the ground, they lower until the three of them land just a few yards away. Krillin immediately goes back to trying to calm his daughter, shushing her and singing a little lullaby. Lazuli and Yamcha go ahead to where Piccolo stands with his arms crossed, seeming to not notice them all.

“What’s going on?” Lazuli asks.

One of the namekian’s ears twitches, and he opens his eyes to look ahead. “We have a visitor.”

Yamcha turns to look where Piccolo is gazing. Several yards away, Vegeta stands with his back turned, and next to him is a stranger who is somewhat shorter than him. She wears a dark cloak that obscures most of her figure, but she also wears white gloves and boots, stark under the black of the cloak. Yamcha almost mistakes her for a human, but he realizes that, under all the dirt and grime, her skin was an unnatural shocking pink. He concludes that she was some kind of alien, but remained unsure if he was familiar with any that looked like her. She opens her mouth and says something to Vegeta, until her head lowers and suddenly turns in Yamcha’s direction. He jolts, aware that she was staring right back at him, and moves to hide a little behind Piccolo, who frowns.

“S--She’s kinda intimidating, huh?” Yamcha says with a nervous laugh, before clearing his throat. “Er, uh, what’s Vegeta talking with her about?”

Piccolo grunts, sounding frustrated. “Not entirely sure. They’re speaking that alien tongue, the one Freeza soldiers used. I can’t understand a lick of it.”

Yamcha’s eyes widen at Freeza’s name, which hasn’t been spoken of in over a decade. Was this stranger one of Freeza’s lackeys? How? Most of them had died on Namek with Freeza, the rest being killed alongside King Cold when he came to Earth looking for revenge. Unless there were survivors, still wandering the cosmos…

“What I meant to ask was,” Yamcha says with a gulp, “is she hostile?”

“I guess we’re about to find out.”

Yamcha peeks back out from behind Piccolo to see Vegeta approaching them all with the stranger in tow, who seems to be hiding herself behind him. Yamcha finally notices that she wears the distinctive armor of a Freeza soldier, though it was broken and cracked to the point it offered no real protection. Vegeta stops just before Piccolo and Yamcha, glaring at the both of them, and then at Krillin and Lazuli when they approach as well.

“This a friend of yours, Vegeta?” Krillin asks apprehensively, bouncing Marron on his shoulder.

Vegeta doesn’t answer at first. “Something like that.”

“Well, who the hell is she? And what does she want from us?” Lazuli demands, her brown eyes blazing a little in hostility at the stranger, who keeps her gaze cast down.

“Her name is Kaki." Vegeta frowns. “She won't really tell me what exactly she's here for."

“What do you mean, she won’t tell you? Make her tell you!” Lazuli says, more forcefully this time. Her voice makes Marron start to cry again, which makes her jolt with guilt and turn to soothe her baby. “Oh, no, honey, I’m sorry…”

“All of you need to calm down. I know you all primed yourselves for a threat even greater than Cell, but this time, it’s different.” Vegeta rubs his temples and gestures nonchalantly to Kaki. “Look at her, she’s practically harmless.”

All the while Yamcha’s eyes stayed glued to Kaki, watching her carefully. Just when Vegeta says it, he notices her begin to move strangely, and he takes a step back in alarm to point.

“Uh, hey, what the heck is she--”

Kaki makes a gagging noise and turns away to throw up. Everyone steps back in alarm and watches her wretch out a dark mound of soil that falls into a heap on the ground. Little blue creatures, almost like worms, wriggled out from it. The group makes a collective sound of disgust, and Kaki coughs loudly in discomfort, covering her mouth.

“See?” Vegeta reiterates, glaring at them all. “I have to get her to Capsule Corporation, to figure out what the hell is wrong with her.”

“What’s Bulma gonna do about _that_?” asks Krillin, looking a little queasy himself.

“Hell if I know. But where else am I to take her? A hospital? Feh.”

Vegeta turns to Kaki and puts a hand on her shoulder, gruffly telling her something in the language Piccolo had mentioned. Kaki jolts at the contact but nods and stands up straight, still looking sick. The group parts to let the two of them walk past. 

“Someone needs to keep an eye on her,” Piccolo tells them, “at least until they get to Bulma’s. It could be an act, for all we know, and they’re headed to one of the most populated cities on Earth.”

“I’ll go, since I live in West City,” Yamcha says quickly, stepping forward. “Krillin and Laz have a baby, and you have a family to get back to.” 

Krillin nods graciously. “All right, man. Be careful, huh?”

“Will do.”

Yamcha watches the three of them fly off, before turning and jogging to catch up with Vegeta and Kaki, who thankfully hadn’t taken off back to West City yet. Kaki’s eyes are squeezed shut and she’s taking deep breaths as she clutches her stomach, where Vegeta just taps his foot in impatience. Yamcha looks between them, suddenly feeling awkward and intrusive.

“You two mind if I tag along?”

Vegeta sighs through his nose. "I suppose not.”

Yamcha’s eyes dart to Kaki, who seems to finally be calming down. Vegeta turns back to her and says something else, and then turns to leave.

“Let’s go.”

* * *

The fly back to Capsule Corporation was something that Yamcha didn't expect it to be: uneventful. The entire time he felt tense, just waiting for Kaki, or even Vegeta, to make a move. But she didn’t. Neither of them did. It was just awkward silence as they crossed the sky back into West City. Yamcha kept to the right of Vegeta and Kaki, trying not to make his suspicious glances at either of them very obvious. He didn't like the way the both of them seemed to hit it off immediately, and how Vegeta seemed to be shielding Kaki from everyone else. He couldn't help but to think that they were up to something, and the several scenarios Yamcha was picturing were anything but good. Even after the several years he's lived on Earth, Yamcha could never learn to trust Vegeta, not even when Bulma decided to keep her son from their one off together. And now, for there to be a hypothetical second Vegeta…

He's nearly so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't notice they're finally landing at the private area of Capsule Corporation, where the Briefs family lived. Bulma stands outside, watching them fly in with a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. Her mother, Panchy, stands next to her, holding Bulma’s son, Trunks, by the hand. Bulma stomps to Vegeta the moment his feet touch the ground.

"Just because I let you bum around here doesn't mean you get to take off and come back whenever you please! You could cause a panic!" Bulma glances at Kaki, and frowns back down at Vegeta. "You _also_ don't get to bring whatever strangers you happen to find!"

But then Bulma does a double-take and looks back at Kaki, seeing the state she's in, her expression falling quickly. Bulma then looks to Yamcha for an explanation, but he shakes his head, unable to give her one.

"There isn't time to explain right now. She's sick," Vegeta says, unnervingly calm. "She's been spitting up dirt ever since she got here."

Bulma blinks, flabbergasted. “ _Dirt?_ ”

Kaki groans and makes another sound like she's going to throw up again, but manages to clamp her gloved hand over her mouth before she can. Bulma gulps and goes to offer a hand to Kaki, and when it's taken, she turns to Panchy.

"Mama, do you mind staying with Trunks a while longer?"

"Of course not, honey," says her mother, looking a little worried.

Bulma nods and begins to lead Kaki away, with Vegeta following them in tow.

"Bulma, wait!" Yamcha says, which prompts his friend to look back at him.

"I think I'll be fine, Yamcha, I'm just gonna call up one of my doctor friends to see what she can do." Bulma gives him a reassuring look before hurriedly turning away to keep going. "Don't worry!"

Yamcha can't help but to let the dread fester in his stomach as he's left standing outside, unsure of if he should follow or leave. Vegeta is the last to go inside, and before he does, he gives Yamcha a dark look. That just gives Yamcha the resolve to follow inside after them, but Panchy stops him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Bulma's right. She's going to be fine. Trust her."

Yamcha frowns, frustrated. That was all he could do anymore, it seemed. Trust.


	3. First Intermission

It was late in the night that same day when Yamcha got a call. He'd been unable to sleep, and stayed up past his usual bedtime hoping that he would hear  _ something _ back from Bulma. He jumps off the couch and makes a bee-line for the phone as fast as he can, taking it off the hook and fumbling to put it to his ear.

"Yamcha?"

"Bulma! Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine!" Bulma says, but sighs a little. She sounds tired. "It's just-- Look, I've got something weird to tell you. Like,  _ really  _ weird."

Yamcha's brows furrow in anticipation. "W--What is it?"

"Well… Kaki's finally feeling better, and she managed to talk to Vegeta a little more. You know, earlier today, he told me that… before he came to Earth, Kaki had gone AWOL from Freeza's army."

"AWOL? Like, what, she deserted?"

"Yeah, she deserted." Bulma pauses before she says this next part. "Look, what I’m about to tell you-- It’s what Vegeta told me she said. Okay?”

“All right…”

“Okay, so like… She said she didn’t come in on any ship or pod. And when Vegeta found her, there really was no evidence of a landing.” Bulma says each sentence slowly, as if in disbelief. "And then, he said that she… She said she used to be dead. And that she clawed herself out of the ground.”

"What?" Yamcha stands up straight. "...No. That's  _ way _ too crazy, even for the shit we’ve been through. She hasn't even  _ been _ to Earth before. If she has, we would know."

"I said the same thing! I don't know. I mean, Vegeta said there wasn't any evidence of a landing. And the way he said it… I don't think he believes it either, but the look on her face when-- Anyway, that's not even the weirdest part."

There's a shuffling on the other end of the line.

"Bulma...?"

"Sorry, I had to get my shit together-- Okay." Bulma sighs in preparation for what she says next. "I got my doctor friend to run some lab tests on the down-low. On that stuff Kaki was coughing up."

Yamcha doesn't like where this is going. "T--The dirt?"

"Yeah. It's--" 

There's a long pause. Yamcha feels his palm on the phone handle getting sweaty from anxiety.

"Bulma, what is it?" he asks gravely.

"...It's not from Earth," she says. "Yamcha, the soil--  _ Nothing _ with this chemical makeup can even be  _ found _ on our planet. It's--It's not from Earth."

Yamcha's blood runs cold.


	4. Chapter Two

Yamcha hadn't heard much about Kaki from Bulma since about a week ago, which left him unsure if it should make him feel better or worse. It was as if she disappeared within the walls of Capsule Corporation, never to be seen again. But Yamcha could still sense her presence there in West City, in the direction he knew Capsule Corp. was. She was still wandering the grounds, doing who knows what. It wasn't until Bulma called him up to awkwardly ask him over to lunch that he felt a little relief, and happily took the time off to visit.

Yamcha stands in the foyer of Capsule Corporation's main company building with his hands in his pockets, staring at the logo on the wall. An unfamiliar employee approaches him and snaps him out of his thoughts, where he has to explain that he’s a friend of Bulma’s meeting her for lunch. When the employee receives confirmation for his story, he’s allowed to venture further into the building and head toward the private dwellings where the Briefs family lived.

He walks outside on the way to the dining area he knew Bulma was fond of, whistling a bit and gazing around at the freshly spruced shrubs. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees a small figure sitting alone at a bench a few yards away, right under the shade of a tree. 

There was no doubt it was Kaki. He could sense her troubling energy blossoming over the compound like a fungal growth, leaving spores in its wake to grow everywhere...

Against better judgement, he goes over to where she sits. She must hear him coming, because her head perks up a little and turns to stare at him. This is when he finally gets a good look at her. She wasn’t in the armor anymore, instead wearing a blue long-sleeve and pants. Her hair is wavy and bright white. A jagged scar strikes across her right eye like lightning, which makes him think of his own--but whatever did that to her must have taken the eye too, since it was white with blindness. Her good eye is the color of silver, shimmering in the afternoon sunlight as she wordlessly looks him up and down. Yamcha doesn't know what to say to her at first, but clears his throat to begin.

"Uh, hey. I didn't get to introduce myself last week. I'm Yamcha," he says carefully, trying to sound friendly. "Are you… feeling any better?"

He waits for an answer, and blinks when he doesn't receive one. Kaki bites her lip, looking embarrassed. Then she speaks, sounding apologetic, and while Yamcha nods along to be polite, he doesn't understand a single word of it. She winces at his confusion, and scrambles to try to say something else.

"She said she couldn't understand what you said," says a gruff voice from behind. 

Both Yamcha and Kaki turn to see Vegeta walking up, who glowers at Yamcha in particular. He stops just a few feet away, hiding balled fists in his thin sweatpant pockets.

"It's only been a week," Vegeta says. "Do you really think she'll have Earth's tongue mastered by the time you feel like interrogating her?"

"I'm not--" Yamcha stops and sighs through his nose, knowing he's been figured out. He turns to Vegeta, frowning. "Excuse me for not exactly buying your story of her being _harmless_. Is it really so bad that I want to gauge her character for myself?"

Vegeta's eyes narrow at him. "I know how you feel about me. You throw it in my face every time we speak. But if there's one thing you should keep in mind about me, it’s that I don't lie when there's no need for it. And there isn't a need for it now."

Kaki suddenly stands and brushes past Yamcha, walking away from the two of them with her arms crossed and held close to her chest. Vegeta turns to watch her go, then turns back to give Yamcha a look of disdain, before sniffing and turning to saunter away in the same direction that Kaki went. 

Yamcha is left standing alone in the shade of the tree as a breeze gently rustles its leaves. He runs a hand over his face, frustrated by Vegeta's intervention, but ultimately glad for it, since it wouldn't have gone anywhere in the first place. He puts his hands in his pockets and walks away, going toward where he was meant to meet Bulma for lunch.

\--

Yamcha finds Bulma already seated under the shade of a patio table, a plate of salad with grilled chicken before her. She is leaning over and wiping her young son’s dirty face with a wet napkin. Bulma happens to look up as he approaches and smiles broadly, and then points him out to Trunks.

“Look who it is, baby! Say hi!”

Yamcha gives Trunks a bright smile. “Hey big guy! Whatcha got there?”

“Pudding!” declares Trunks, holding up a used spoon.

Bulma laughs, still cleaning Trunks’ face. “He inhaled his nuggets before you even got here.”

“I see that. Sorry for the wait, by the way,” Yamcha says, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh, no, it’s fine!” She motions to a door, which Yamcha remembers led inside to a kitchen. “Uh, my mom made stuff for salad, but there’s also some pasta--forget what kind. Help yourself.”

Just a minute later Yamcha seats himself with his own plate, some pasta with garlic and tomato, and a glass of iced tea. He picks out some noodles and tomato with a fork and eats.

“So,” Yamcha says, his dark eyes looking to Bulma expectantly.

“Yeah,” Bulma replies, suddenly looking tired. But then she forces herself to perk up. “You know, let’s have a _normal_ conversation before we talk about _the incident_. How are things going with you?”

“Well,” Yamcha begins, and gulps down his food before continuing, “the league is still in the off-season right now, so I’ve mostly been doing workouts and occasionally training in the batting cage. Though I’ve taken the past week off ‘cause of… yeah.”

“It was good while it lasted,” Bulma mumbles to herself, taking a sip of her tea with a straw. “Yeah, no, I don’t blame you. This whole thing with Kaki has me pretty wound up. Like, I woke up with a crick in my neck the other day! Ugh.”

Yamcha begins to speak in a low voice, just to be careful. “So, what’s your take on all this? I mean, do you think she’s up to anything?”

Bulma sighs through her nose in thought. “Anything malicious? Nah, I don’t think so. As much of an asswipe Vegeta is, he has a nose for ulterior motives. And he hasn’t really said anything about her.”

“Unless _he’s_ the one with ulterior motives,” Yamcha says, mostly to himself.

“Ugh, Yamcha, you really need to try and give it a rest.”

“I’m not gonna give it a rest, Bulma, ‘cause he’s the reason I was dead for a year! What, you think I can just _learn to trust him_ after he did all that shit to our friends? After what he pulled with Cell?”

“Okay, yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just--” Bulma glances around, and lowers her voice as well. “We can’t keep bickering like this about him. With Goku gone and Gohan having quit martial arts, Vegeta is Earth’s only actual chance if another significant threat comes our way.”

Yamcha thinks on that for a long moment, and frowns in resignation. “I guess you’re right.”

“...And anyway,” Bulma continues, sitting back, “if Kaki’s as strong as I’ve been told, I think she would have made quick work out of all of us by now, if she really meant to hurt us. Krillin said the same thing, when I talked to him about it yesterday.”

“Krillin?” Yamcha repeats, surprised.

“Yeah! And it’s like, y’know, I’ve noticed… she’s not mean or grumpy all the time, like Vegeta is,” Bulma takes a moment to get a bite of salad. “She seems a little… I don’t know. Sensitive.”

Yamcha is taken further aback. “Sensitive?”

“Yeah! Almost like you,” she adds, before finishing chewing. “And honestly, I don’t blame her. The stuff I’ve heard from Vegeta about Freeza’s army… I mean, no wonder she ran away.”

Right. They’d established that Kaki was a deserter. But Yamcha’s brows furrow together in doubt, stabbing at a piece of tomato with the end of his fork. “Do you even think that’s true? I mean, she also says she used to be dead.”

“I dunno, Yamcha, that soil sample said a lot,” Bulma says with a shrug. “And it’s like I said to you the other day, no ship or crash site. What else are we supposed to believe?”

Yamcha remains silent, staring down at the noodles on his plate. The way Bulma had talked about Kaki, it really didn’t make her seem all that bad. The more he thought about it, the more he was starting to see why Bulma described her as sensitive. The newcomer did seem a little on edge, maybe even anxious, not only just earlier but when she first appeared on Earth. Perhaps he was being a little more rash about his suspicions than he was willing to admit. He had a good reason, but… now he felt a little bad. Maybe Vegeta stopping him from talking to her was a good thing after all.

“You okay, Yamcha?” Bulma asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. “You have a weird look on your face. Did you hear anything I said?”

“Huh? Ugh, sorry. I didn’t.”

“Well, what I said was, y’know, you don’t have to force yourself to like her either, but,” Bulma looks him in the eye with a pleading expression. “Just try to be nice to her, if you end up bumping into her. She’s having a rough time adjusting to everything as it is. Please?”

Yamcha stares at her, his expression stony. But he could never say no to her. Slowly, he begins to nod, though not looking very happy about it. “Okay. Okay, yeah. I’ll try.”

Bulma raises a brow, testing him. “Will you really?”

“Yes! I will.” Yamcha finally meets her gaze and gives her a small, reassuring smile.” I’ll be nice to her. I promise.”

“Good.”


	5. Chapter Three

It’s about two months until he sees Kaki again. 

Bulma had called him up and asked him to come attend a Capsule Corp. function with her, mostly to act as support since there was no one else. After letting his coach know where he was going and that he wasn’t going to be long, Yamcha drove across town to Capsule Corporation that weekend with one of his nicer suits, where Bulma met him at the doors of the company and set him up in one of the guest rooms at her home.

It was in the late afternoon. Yamcha sat on a couch in some hallway corridor, finding it too cold to lounge around outside. He was reading a book in one hand, with the other supporting the back of his head. It was some romance trite that he had found in the guest room--he assumed it must have been Bulma’s or her mother’s--and reading it was better than staring at the wall. At least until he got a particularly cheesy paragraph, where the main character is admiring her love interest’s body. He rolls his eyes and shuts the book, stuffing it behind the cushion he sat next to. Man, he should have brought something from home...

Then he hears voices coming from the hallway to his left, and turns his head in interest. First comes Vegeta, shirtless and sweaty, and then comes Kaki, who wears a tank and is in much the same state, dabbing at the sweat at her temples with a towel that hung about her shoulders. This is where Yamcha notices the various battle scars on Kaki’s arms and abdomen. _From a life of violence in Freeza’s army, no doubt_ , he thinks. _She’s got as many as Vegeta does._ Yamcha suddenly remembers that the Gravity Chamber was somewhere in this area, and decides that they must have been training. They don’t seem to notice Yamcha’s presence, and he doesn’t make himself known, instead watching both of them in curiosity despite not understanding what they were saying. He feels his throat suddenly become dry. 

Vegeta explains something gruffly and clenches his fist in emphasis, which Kaki responds with a tired nod and reply. Vegeta sighs, not quite satisfied but not wanting to press further, and says something else, before turning and walking off. 

Kaki is left standing, looking disappointed. She closes her eyes and sighs deeply. Yamcha breathes through his nose to try and suppress the sudden need to cough, but it only makes the dryness of this throat worse, and he involuntarily lets out a loud cough. This catches Kaki’s attention, who whips her head far enough in his direction to see him through her good eye, and stares at him with a look of surprise. Yamcha clears his throat and tenses at the sudden eye contact, looking her up and down. Kaki glances in the direction where Vegeta walked off for a moment. Yamcha expects her to follow, but instead she approaches him. Her mouth opens and closes a couple times, as if she’s hesitant to speak.

“Um… Hello. I remember you. From… back then,” she says slowly, as if unsure of her words. She speaks with a thick accent, something much different from Vegeta’s, but it wasn’t so bad Yamcha couldn’t understand. She holds out a hand to shake. "Um, I’m Kaki.”

“...Yamcha,” he says, apprehensively taking her hand in his. “Yeah, it’s been a while.”

“Yes! A while,” she repeats. She takes her hand back and chuckles a bit, looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry. Earth’s tongue is a little… hard to get used to. So many sayings.”

“Oh, no, you’re doing fine! You sound great, really.”

Yamcha gives her a reassuring smile, which she seems to brighten at. 

“You were pretty sick, last time I saw you,” he says. “Though you... look a lot better, now.”

“I am! Ms. Briefs helped me with the, um, _in-dige-stion_. I’m very grateful to her.”

“That’s good! That’s good.”

Yamcha finds himself twiddling his thumbs as the conversation drifts off a little. Kaki glances down, looking unsure of what else to say but seeming to not yet want to leave. Then she perks suddenly.

“Um, what are you here again for?” she asks, tilting her head a little.

“Oh, Bulma asked me to come to attend this… party she’s holding for her company. It’s a new tech showcase or something. I’m mostly here to be her arm-candy,” he says with a laugh, and explains further. “Like her, um, partner.”

“Like… a partner,” Kaki says, nodding in understanding. “Yes, Ms. Briefs told me about it a little. I... think I’m going to avoid it.”

Yamcha raises a brow at that. “Not a fan of parties?”

She shakes her head. “Not anymore. I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to go anyway…” She gestures to herself. “I am obviously not an Earthling.”

“Aw, well… Maybe one of these days! I mean, Bulma usually holds a party for her birthday, and then another for the new year. She only lets her friends attend both, so there’d be no random people to freak out about aliens. I think it’d be pretty okay for you to go to either one,” he says.

“You think so?” Kaki seems to like the idea. “Maybe I will. If I feel like it.”

“Yeah! Everyone in the gang is pretty nice. I think you’ll get along with them fine.”

Kaki smiles fully at that. Yamcha gives her a smile back, finding it rather infectious. She takes a step back and gives him a respectful nod. “I think I should go now… Before I stink.”

“Okay, yeah, go,” Yamcha says, staring at her back as she walks away. _Huh, she’s pretty buff_ , he finds himself thinking. He gulps, and just before she walks fully out of his view, he sits up and blurts, “See you later?”

Kaki stops to turn and blink at him in surprise. She looks down to think for a fleeting moment, before smiling a little again. “Yes! I’ll see you later.”

Once she's out of view, Yamcha slumps in his seat and runs a hand over his face. _What the hell was that, man?_ he thinks to himself. He had to say, Kaki _was_ very nice. Nice enough that he felt his inhibitions lower at her insistence in talking to him, and at the awkward little smile she had at the end of it. Maybe she was just happy to be talking to someone other than Bulma or Vegeta. He was glad that she wasn’t belligerent like Vegeta, at least. But why was it that he got such a rush, watching her go? 

Yamcha stares at the air vent for a long while, unsure of what to make of it. Then, he moves to stretch and get up, but knocks over the cushion he sat next to. The book from before falls open onto the floor, which he picks up. He stares at it for a second, flipping it to look at the cover art, of the heroine gazing down upon her lover and cupping his cheek… He frowns a little, embarrassed that he was even looking at it again. Then he gets up to leave.

"I better go put this back before someone finds me with it."


	6. Chapter Four

As much as he loved Bulma, Yamcha could never sit through these types of company functions without feeling like an outsider. It was always awkward, having to explain to academic types that he wasn’t much of a scientist or engineer, just a soon-to-be retired baseball player for the Taitans team. Responses ranged from ignorance to feigned interest, and at some point he just started letting Bulma do the talking. Perhaps sensing his boredom, Bulma told him it was all right to retire once presentations started, since it would last late into the night, and the important part of looking good to investors was done and over with.

He manages to excuse himself and break away during the presentations, when it wasn’t necessary to mingle around with others and politely nibble on expensive finger-foods. He has to detour through a few hallways until he’s back to the private dwellings and inside his room. He changes out of his suit into more comfortable clothes and lays down, fully intending on going to bed for the drive back home in the morning. Then he finds himself unable to even shut his eyes, just lying there and staring up at the ceiling in dim lamplight, twiddling his thumbs. Then he sits up, frustrated, and gets up to go make a cup of tea. 

He reaches the kitchen and crosses the threshold without much thought, but freezes when he finds Kaki sitting at the table with her head in her hands. She looks up, surprised to see him again.

“Hey,” he says, leaning a little against the doorframe.

“Hey,” she responds quietly, and goes back to holding her head in her hands.

“...Can’t sleep either?”

“Hah. Not really,” she says, and doesn’t elaborate in the pause that follows after.

Yamcha crosses the kitchen to the cabinets, where the variety of tea was kept. “I was gonna drink something to help with that... I’ll make a second cup, if you want.”

“Um… Okay,” Kaki says slowly, nodding a little. 

After getting some water boiling and two mugs with tea bags set out, Yamcha carefully fills the mugs and lets the tea steep for a few moments. Then he walks to the table and sets one of the mugs before Kaki, who looks up to take it. 

“I put a little honey in it,” he says as he pulls up a chair and sits across from her. “Hopefully it’s sweet enough.”

Kaki blows some steam off the top and takes a cautious sip. “It’s good. Thank you.”

They sit for a couple of minutes in silence, drinking their tea. Yamcha for the most part avoids making eye contact with her, but eventually his gaze drifts back to her. She clutches the mug in both hands, staring into the brew with a distant expression. She looks tired and stressed, a far cry from the day before when she was relatively cheerful, but not unlike the day she first arrived. Yamcha’s expression softens in concern, and he sets his mug onto the table to address her.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine,” she answers quickly, taking a gulp of the tea as if to make up for lost time. She sniffs a little when done and finally looks back up to him. “H--How was Ms. Briefs’ party?”

“...I--It was okay. Pretty boring, though.”

“Oh. Is that why you came back early?” Kaki asks curiously.

“Yeah... Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy whatever new tech Capsule Corp. has cooked up as much as the next guy,” he explains, and laughs breathily. “But dealing with a lot of people who know a lot more than you, all at one time? It just gets kind of tiring.”

"Yes. Sometimes one can get very... overloaded when they are out of their element."

"You said it better than I could," Yamcha says, giving her a smile.

Kaki glances down, a faint smile ghosting her lips and her tense shoulders dropping as she visibly relaxes. "So, um, what… _is_ your element?" She pauses, finding the wording weird. "I mean, what do you… do?"

"Oh, well… I play baseball. As a job," he adds.

"Baseball." Kaki furrows her brows a bit. "I have heard of _foot_ ball. It is also a sport?"

"Yeah. It's like, uh… Uh." Yamcha thinks for a second, before scratching his neck in sheepishness. "Geez, y'know, now that I get an actual chance to explain it, I can't find the words."

Kaki chuckles a little, breaking into a smile. "It's okay, you don't have to. I barely understand football… Apparently there is two? I don't know."

Yamcha laughs at that. "Oh goodness, yeah. I mean, like, one of them doesn't really involve using your feet. What the heck is _soccer?_ "

"That is the one where they carry the brown thing?"

"No," Yamcha says, grinning. "That's what they call the one where you kick the ball around."

Kaki's face freezes in confusion, and then she frowns just as suddenly, causing Yamcha to laugh even more. Kaki eventually begins to laugh as well and bites her lip.

"That is… I don't know what to say," she says, grinning.

"It's pretty fucking silly," Yamcha says, sipping his tea.

"It is!" Kaki agrees. "Very fucking silly."

"Be careful with saying that a lot," Yamcha says, quirking a brow. "'Fuck' is a curse. I don't really care, but people can get prickly about cursing."

"Oops." She puts a hand over her mouth, looking embarrassed, but quickly smiles again. "Sorry."

Yamcha's expression softens in fondness for her. Talking to her now, he wanted to kick himself for initially comparing her to Vegeta. Maybe Bulma was right--she didn't seem all that bad. He sits up straight, rolling his jaw a bit as he deliberates what he's about to say. Kaki notices his change in mood and looks at him in concern, but doesn't say anything to give him a chance to speak. He takes a deep breath.

“There’s something I need to get off my chest. About... when I first tried to talk to you.”

"Two months ago?" Kaki asks.

"Y--Yeah. At the time, I approached you because… I didn't exactly trust when Vegeta said you were cool," he explains, looking guilty. "And I wanted to see if what he said was really true. It's just-- You have to understand. Vegeta... He's done some awful things, not only to Earth but in general…"

Kaki's gaze becomes distant, looking slightly hurt. Yamcha tries to continue as best he can, but this time she doesn't let him speak further. She sighs in resignation and shakes her head. 

"I know what you are trying to say," she says in a low voice, "and... I understand. Vegeta told me what you were trying to do, and I will tell you what I said to him."

Kaki doesn't say anything for a long moment, her lips pursed.

"If it was me being you… I wouldn't trust me either."

Her charged words leave Yamcha speechless and unable to say anything further, leaving him to stare at her with wide eyes. As much as he was beginning to warm up to her, he still couldn't help but wonder what exactly it was that she did under Freeza.

Kaki stands with her palms resting flat on the table. She sighs deeply and looks plain into his face, her expression reverting back to one of exhaustion.

"I can tell that you are a protector at heart. You just… want to keep those you care for safe. I would never hold something like that against you."

"Kaki--"

She's gone before he can tell her to wait. Yamcha curses at himself, hiding his face in his hands. 

When he leaves, he finds that her tea is left half-finished, and long gone cold.


	7. Chapter Five

It was after the Freeza threat that Yamcha had finally made it to the major leagues. He'd been in the minor leagues off and on because of his double life as martial artist-slash-protector of Earth, but he was finally able to commit after his resurrection. 

When he was young and still living off of thievery, he'd ever imagined he'd find such a passion in a mundane sport like baseball, especially with the action-packed life he had led. But much like his goal of finding true love from his days of banditry, he found himself longing more and more for the mundane and ordinary, especially after his sudden death in the saibamen battles against the saiyans. It was what drove him further away from martial arts, and what made him decide to end his long-running but usually unstable relationship with Bulma. And ultimately, he was glad for it.

For the past eight years, he's been playing for the West City Taitans. He was fourth in the batting lineup, designating him as _the_ best batter as tradition dictated, making him one of the more popular players on the team. Strength-wise, he held himself back for the sake of the game and fairness. Typically, he would limit himself between forty to fifty home runs each season, usually just picking an appropriate time on the fly to make one. When he first started playing for the Taitans, he'd broken the record for most home runs in a season twice in a row, the first being 68, the second being 72. After that, he decided enough was enough and kept his numbers relatively average. He kept his history of being a bandit turned seasoned martial artist a well hidden secret from the public, which was easy enough to do with an influential friend like Bulma. So as far as his coach, his team, and his fans were concerned, he was just _damn good_ at baseball.

Yamcha was in the middle of the preseason spring training when he went and came back from Bulma's that weekend. He tries to go about his week as normally as he can, but finds himself feeling particularly tired at the end of every day leading up to the exhibition game on Wednesday. 

The game itself is grueling enough to distract him from the regret of the past weekend hanging over his head. In the previous season, he had announced that the next would be his last and that he would officially retire from baseball. While it was expected due to his age, the news nonetheless shocked sports casters and fans alike. As a result, there were a lot more people viewing the spring training that year, which was always held in West City's Capsule Stadium. For the game he wears a winning smile and puts on a show for the fans, and afterwards, stays late to sign as many autographs and take as many pictures as he could stand. Then, he drives home.

Yamcha parks his car in the driveway and sits there for a few minutes, suddenly feeling the physical and emotional fatigue wash over him. Once inside his house he wordlessly drops his bag near the front door and tosses his car keys into their designated bowl, not even detaching the capsule keychain he kept his lunch in. He forgoes his usual ritual of a shower before dinner due to time and trudges into the kitchen, swinging open one of the refrigerator doors to tiredly peer inside.

"Puar?" he calls, his voice echoing a bit on the high ceiling. "Got any ideas for dinner, buddy?"

A pair of furry ears poke out from the other side of the kitchen island, and rise to reveal two large green cat eyes, which stare curiously at Yamcha. Puar fully comes out and floats over to where Yamcha stands, looking over his shoulder to also look inside at the contents of the refrigerator.

"Hmm." Puar's right ear twitches in thought, before he points a paw at something. "Oh, we still have that salmon! Maybe that?"

"Okay, sure, if that's what you want," says Yamcha, rubbing at his eye a little. "I can, like, sear it or somethin'…"

Puar settles on Yamcha's shoulder as he pulls out the paper-wrapped package of salmon fillets, as well as some asparagus and garlic, and slaps them onto the kitchen counter. He instinctively finds the needed seasonings for what he has in mind and sets them on the counter as well, then washing his hands and getting down to preparation. He’s silent as he rubs the salmon with lemon and a mixture of spices, and doesn’t say a word while he minces the garlic and cooks it in melted butter.

Puar watches him go through the motions, his expression growing more concerned the longer the silence spans the time Yamcha takes to make dinner. When Yamcha finally gets to searing the salmon at the stove--one pan with lemon butter for himself, another with no lemon for the feline--Puar uncoils his tail from Yamcha’s shoulders and goes to float beside him.

“Are you okay, Yamcha?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“It’s just--” Puar’s nose wiggles a little, his paws touching together in worry. “You’ve been acting so strange ever since you came back from Bulma’s… Did something happen?”

Yamcha doesn’t answer at first, his expression becoming distant when Puar poses the question to him. Puar winces a little when Yamcha suddenly flips one of the pans of salmon with one hand, but ultimately Yamcha just holds a hand to his temple, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Actually… Yeah. Something did happen. I just-- I don’t know.” Yamcha shakes his head, flipping the salmon in the second pan. “I feel stupid. It wouldn’t have even happened if I didn’t open my big mouth.”

“Was it with Bulma…?”

“No. You remember that alien chick I told you about, the one that showed up here a while back?”

“Yeah, I do,” Puar says, his head tilting curiously. “Her name was…?”

“Kaki,” Yamcha finishes. “I actually, uh, managed to talk to her again.”

“I thought you didn’t like her.”

“I--I mean, it’s not like--” Yamcha sighs through his nose, frowning a little. “I just didn’t really trust her at first, y’know? I mean, she used to work for Freeza, and she’s all buddy-buddy with Vegeta…”

“Ohhh, okay. I get it. Yeah, I don’t think I would trust someone with that background either.”

“Well, the day I went over there, she actually came up to me and said hi. She remembered me from when I tried to talk to her a while back.” Yamcha steps over to the other side of the stove, where some asparagus was sizzling in garlic butter. “She’s actually… _really_ nice. A lot nicer than what I was imagining.”

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Puar blinks, turning upside down as he nods in acknowledgement. “So what happened that’s got you all upset?”

“I found her in the kitchen, after I left the party. She looked pretty stressed, so I made her some chamomile. We talked a little, and like… I don’t know, in the middle of it, I just felt… bad. For thinking that _she_ was bad. And like, I told her.”

Puar sighs. “Why would you tell someone you’ve just met that you didn’t like them at first?”

“I don’t know! I said I was being stupid.” Yamcha stirs the butter-mixture around the salmon fillet. “She played it off pretty cool, though. She said she understood why. But then she just left. Which isn’t bad! It’s just-- Well, obviously I fucked up, and I guess made her feel like the one person outside of Capsule Corporation she was seeing as a friend betrayed her. Or something.”

“Is that what she _said?_ ”

"Well--" Yamcha stops, then his brows furrow. “...No.”

“What did she say exactly, when she said she understood you not trusting her?”

“She said… If she was me, she wouldn’t trust her either. And that she didn’t hold it against me.” Yamcha removes the salmon from the pans and places each filet onto two plates. He drizzles the remainder of the butter onto both, before going to retrieve the asparagus. “And then she left.”

“Hmm.” Puar’s ear twitches in thought as Yamcha puts the asparagus onto just one plate. “If you ask me, I think she was also just being honest.”

Yamcha brightens a little. “Yeah?”

“Yeah! Though, she does sound like she was… intentionally pushing you away.”

Yamcha stops, about to put asparagus onto one of the plates, as the realization hits him like a brick. It made perfect sense, now that he recalled Kaki's behavior with that kind of context. How couldn't he have seen it in the moment? He continues his motion, glancing at Puar with a brow quirked. "You think that's it?"

"I mean… _Probably._ I can't be sure, though." Puar's pupils dilate as he intentionally makes a pleading expression at Yamcha. "I'm just a little kitty-cat, you know?"

Yamcha snorts at that as he switches off the burners and reaches over to ruffle the fur on Puar's head. "A _conniving_ little kitty-cat." Yamcha then places the plate with the single salmon fillet on the kitchen island, before getting a fork out for himself and leaning against the counter to begin eating. "Well, dig in, buddy."

Puar begins to dig in, tearing off tiny sections of meat with his teeth. His nose wriggles again when he looks back up to Yamcha with a curious look. "You're taking a bath after this, right? 'Cause you stink."

"Geez, thanks!"


	8. Second Intermission

After a shower, Yamcha stands in front of the end table that housed his phone, deliberating whether he should pick it up or not. After an agonizing minute he caves and picks it up, pressing the two speed-dial numbers he had memorized and putting the receiver up to his ear. The line rings about five times before it's finally picked up, and there's a shuffling on the other end.

"Hello?" comes Bulma's voice.

"Hey!"

"Oh, Yamcha! Hey," she says, sounding happy to hear him. But then she pauses. "Wait, you're in spring training. Aren't you supposed to be asleep or something?"

Yamcha opens his mouth to answer, before frowning a little. "I dunno. Aren't you?"

"You _know_ I'm a late worker."

"Hah, yeah, just giving you a hard time. Okay, uh," Yamcha takes a moment to sigh through his nose, "actually, I called to ask you something."

"Oh yeah? What's up?"

"H--How--" He suddenly feels embarrassed. "How's Kaki doing?"

"...Well… I mean." Bulma sounds a little surprised at that. "I think she's doing fine… Why?"

"Uh, well… Ugh, how do I _begin_ to explain--?"

He hears a huff from the other line. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't intentional at all! Look, I just-- Gah." Yamcha rubs a hand over his face. "I think I upset her the other day when I was over, and--and I wanna know if it's appropriate to try and… go back over there and make it up to her."

"Oh, boy," Bulma says, sounding exasperated but a little amused. "Well, I think I have something to tell you."

"W--What?"

"Well, let's just say you aren't the first one to talk to me about this," Bulma says. "Kaki actually came up to me the other day, and like, told me that she talked to you. She pretty much told me that she thought she upset _you_."

" _What?_ "

"The way she put it was, as much as she understood your first impression of her, she kind of had a bad reaction and just left altogether without hearing you out completely."

"Why would she--? Oh, no, _no_." Yamcha groans, dragging a hand across his face. He felt even worse about the whole situation now. Kaki really _was_ nice, maybe too nice if _that_ was the way she saw their exchange.

"Look, I'm not planning on getting anymore involved than I already have, because this is obviously some kind of miscommunication shit you two need to talk out. But, y'know, if you _really_ wanna get in her good graces…" Yamcha can just picture Bulma’s smug grin as she says this. "I've noticed she's got a _liiittle_ bit of a sweet-tooth."

"Are you being real, or are you trying to tell me to get _you_ a box of chocolates?"

"No! I have enough money to get my own."

"Kidding, kidding." Yamcha sniffs. "So, er, you got anything _particular_ in mind…?"

"Yamcha, she hasn't exactly been around like we have. Whatever it is you get, I'm sure it'll make her happy. Oh!" He hears Bulma snap her fingers. "Just make sure it's vegan."

"Kaki's a… vegan alien?"

Bulma snorts. "It's not at all what you're thinking. She cannot process meat or dairy. It's a brench thing."

"Brench thing? Is that what she is, a brench?"

"Yeah! It's kind of crazy, because Vegeta said apparently we met another brench back on Namek. I definitely didn't meet whoever it was, though. Anyway, yeah, no meat or dairy. It's something with the way their digestive system evolved or whatever."

"Oh. Damn, really?"

"Mhm. Vegeta told me so a while back. They get real sick or something. I think she's just too polite to tell my mom outright, when she gets food shoved at her. I've noticed she always leaves meat and stuff untouched, but she eats oranges and grapes like she's never eaten anything before."

"Wow, that's actually kind of interesting. Okay, keep it vegan. Thanks, Bulma, you have no idea how huge of a help you are."

"Aw, you! Don't mention it. You're my best friend. I'll always look out for you."

"And I for you, too, Bulma," Yamcha says, smiling a little to himself. "Well, that's really all I needed to talk to you about… Uh, is it cool if I come over this weekend, then?"

"Sure, just come on over whenever!"

"Okay, cool. I should head to bed now, before I screw up my sleep schedule."

"Alright! Night, Yamcha." Bulma clicks her tongue. "See you this weekend, tiger."

"G'night! Wait."

The line clicks off. Yamcha stands there, frowning a little in confusion.

" _Tiger?_ "


	9. Chapter Six

After using the rest of the week as an opportunity to think on it, Yamcha eventually figures out something good to give Kaki. It takes a little rooting out at the local farmer's market, but he's able to score a good size set of it, and shells out the money for it. He didn't mind.

It's a couple hours after noon that he drives up to the Capsule Corporate compound, and walks his way to the private dwellings, a package tucked under his arm. He finds Bulma at the living area reading a book with Trunks. Bulma looks up to him and smiles knowingly, before shutting the book and leaving Trunks occupied with a toy. The both of them step into the hall to talk.

"Hey, so like, is she waiting somewhere for me or…?"

"Waiting?" Bulma laughs a little and waves her hand dismissively. "Yamcha, she doesn't even know you were planning on coming!"

"Wh-- _Bulma!_ " Yamcha says, suddenly looking very worried. "W--What if she doesn't like that I'm back and gets upset or something?"

"Ugh, you've always been such a worrywart," Bulma remarks, rolling her eyes a little. "She's gonna be a lot happier to see you than you think, trust me. Seriously, calm down, you'll sweat through your shirt."

"Urgh. Okay. If you say so."

“Alright, so,” Bulma starts, looking down the hall and pointing, “she’s about thataway, in the garden area. You know, where the--”

“Where the lilacs are, yeah,” Yamcha finishes, nodding.

“Yeah!” Bulma confirms with a wide smile. “Yeah, she should be chilling there somewhere. Just don’t sneak up on her or anything, she’s kinda jumpy.”

“Okay--”

“Okay!” Bulma touches him at the back and pushes a little, urging him forward. “Go, go, go!”

“Geez, alright, okay! Gosh.”

Embarrassed at Bulma's strange excitement, he prims his shirt a little, before going on forward in the direction Bulma had said. It takes him about a minute to walk to the garden, where many times in the past he and Bulma had shared various romantic moments. The lilacs would be in bloom already, now that it was spring. The connotations were not lost on him as he approaches and when he stops while still several yards away. His chest tightens in nervousness and he runs a hand through his hair, preparing himself. But when he raises his eyes and sees Kaki sitting at the iron garden table, leaning over and delicately touching the spines of a young and blooming barrel cactus, he feels calm slowly wash over him. With a new sense of resolve, he begins his approach. Kaki sees him coming from the corner of her eye and sits up, watching him in surprise as he closes in.

“Y-Yamcha,” she says, her eyes a little wide.

“Hey!” He stops just a few feet away, with his hands in his pockets. He glances down, smiling a bit shyly. “Er, uh… Is it okay if I join you?”

Kaki blinks as if in disbelief, and in the next moment gives him a nod. “Yes! Please, go ahead.”

Yamcha pulls up the other chair and sits across from her, not yet bringing out the box from under his arm. He finally raises his head and looks at her. Her gaze is cast downward and she wrings her hands together, hiding them behind the various pots of succulents. Kaki meets his gaze apprehensively, and they stare at each other for another long moment. Then they both open their mouths to speak, but stop at seeing the other trying to talk. They do it a second time, and they both chuckle nervously. Yamcha scratches the back of his head.

“You go first,” he tells her.

“Well, um,” she starts, touching a hand to her chin. “I don’t know how to say it well. I felt... bad. Not because of what you were saying but… Because you were saying it.”

Yamcha’s brows furrow together at that, but he lets her continue.

“Everyone is so… nice.” Kaki looks down a little, her placid expression drooping in guilt. “I don’t know if I deserve any of it. I’m sorry.”

“What? Kaki...” Yamcha sits forward in worry, trying to coax her back into looking at him with his eyes. “Kaki, of _course_ you deserve some kindness. That’s not even something you should apologize for. And-- Man… _I’m_ sorry for even saying that stuff to you.”

Kaki raises her head to look him in the eye.

“It was insensitive.” Yamcha frowns, frustrated at himself but wanting to go through with his apology fully. “And I don’t really know you that well to even tell you stuff like that.”

“But…”

“No buts!” Yamcha says sternly, but breaks into a smile that softens just as quickly. "Seriously. You're pretty cool. You've got nothing to worry about from me, or anyone else here."

Kaki's brows raise at that, blinking. "...Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

He watches as she slowly comes to comprehend what he said, her expression brightening just enough to be noticeable. A smile flickers on her face as some clouds finally pass over and the sun shines down a little brighter. She finally gives him a nod in acceptance, tucking wisps of loose hair behind her ear.

"Okay… I believe you."

"Good."

Yamcha gives her a hopeful smile, which she meets with her own. The second of silence that passes between them feels like a while to him, and staring at her, the tightness in his chest he felt slowly returns. He shifts a little in his seat, discomforted by the sensation but not exactly feeling _bad_. His hand touches the package that he'd been holding onto that entire time, and he perks up a bit, the feeling quickly subsiding.

"Oh! Here, I--I got something for ya," he says, pulling out the package and sliding it over to her. "It's a, uh, reconciliation gift. To start over on a better note."

Kaki blinks in surprise, glancing up at him as if she didn't understand, but slowly reaches out to take it. She holds it before her with her fingers touching the sides of it, seeming unsure. She looks back up to Yamcha, waiting for him to do something.

"Go ahead! It's for you," he says with a gesture.

"Um." Kaki bites her lip. Then she nods. "Okay."

Kaki carefully removes the decorative paper ribbon and taps the box a little on the table to slide the top off. Inside are treats, deep red in color and dusted with white, cut into meticulous squares. Kaki raises her brows, still not yet saying anything. She apprehensively picks one out, holding it by the corners in her fingers and turning it around a little to get a better look at it. Then she looks back again to Yamcha.

"What are these?" she asks, curious.

"Oh! They're cactus candy. Uh, made out of fruit that comes off of one of these bad boys." He takes one of the pots to show her a young cactus plant with distinctive flat pads and fuzzy spines. "I used to eat it a lot when I was younger. I still do sometimes! It's pretty good, I think you'll like it."

Kaki looks a little more sure of herself after his explanation, and takes a small bite of the piece she holds. Yamcha watches in anticipation, leaning forward a little more. Kaki stops chewing for a moment, and he almost thinks her expression is that of polite disgust, but then she breaks into a wide smile, touching her cheek with a free hand.

"You're right. It _is_ very good," she says after swallowing. Her smile softens a little. "Thank you. It is very thoughtful of you."

"Heh, well, y'know! I--I try," he laughs, rubbing his neck.

Kaki scoots the box toward him. "You can have one, too."

"Huh? Oh, no, I couldn't. They're for you."

"I want to share. Take some if you'd like."

Yamcha laughs breathlessly in resignation, nodding a little and reaching out to take one and bite out of it. The lilacs' scent is overpowered by the sweet fruity smell of the sugar-dusted square, something that brings him back to his days in the desert when he would handmake the confection, alone but content with his solitude. He'd given it up when he left the desert in pursuit of Goku and his friends, and never picked it up as he never went back. He finds himself feeling that same contentment from his lonely days in Diablo Desert, even though now he was certainly not alone. He was glad for it though, he realizes as he eats the rest of his square. Being able to share something so nostalgic to him with Kaki and have her smile about it was incredibly comforting. 

"So, um, what have you been up to?" Kaki asks, popping the rest of the cactus square into her mouth.

"Well." Yamcha shifts in his seat. "I'm in preseason training right now… So mostly doing, like, harder workouts and practice games that people come to watch. We have our first game the week after next."

"For baseball, right?"

"Yup." He blinks, and then runs a hand over his face. "Agh. We're gonna be travelling a ton, too. It'll be awhile until I'm back for a home game."

"Oh." Kaki deflates a little. "So you will be… gone?"

"Not forever! I'll be busy, but… We can still talk," he says. He pauses to smile a little sheepishly and wring his hands at what he's about to suggest. "I mean, y--you can call me whenever you want! Or I'll, uh, call you."

Kaki perks back up at the idea. "O--Okay. Maybe I can borrow Bulma’s phone or something..."

"Yeah! I’m only gonna have my cell on me, anyway, so I’m sure she’d let you use hers… Hey, you can catch the games on TV, too, if you want. They usually show 'em on one of the main channels."

"Ohh, okay, okay," Kaki says, nodding. "I don't usually use the TV, but maybe I will now. I hope I don't get too confused with the game…"

"I think you’ll figure it out when you’re watching it! But... I can tell you a little bit of the basics right now, if you'd like.”

"Yes! I would like that.” Kaki leans her chin on the heels of her hands. “It would be very helpful.”

“Okay!” Yamcha clears his throat a little. “So, the goal of the game is for either team to rack up the most points before time is up. I don’t know if you’ve seen a ball field, but it’s basically shaped like a square, with each corner being a base…”

They talk like that for the next few hours. Yamcha does most of the talking, while Kaki did the listening, which she seemed glad to do. They were left alone to do so for the most part, only being briefly interrupted by Panchy, who had offered them lemonade. It is well into the late afternoon that Yamcha has to begrudgingly excuse himself and go home. He thinks on the encounter during the span of time it takes for him to drive back to his side of West City, wistfully leaning his cheek on his knuckles. When he gets inside his home, Puar is watching a nature show, one about fish, his tail whipping about intently. He blinks when Yamcha crosses in front of the TV, whistling an improvised tune as he crosses the living area to the kitchen and begins to set out things for dinner. Puar watches him in surprise for several moments, and then shuts off the TV to float into the kitchen.

“You were gone for a _while_ ,” Puar remarks, his nose twitching. “But you look a lot happier! I guess talking to Kaki went well?”

Yamcha pauses, holding a skillet by the side. He turns to look at Puar with a half-smile, flipping the pan in his hand to take it by the handle and place it on a lit burner.

“Yeah. It went pretty well.”


	10. Third Intermission

Kaki remained at the iron garden table for several minutes after Yamcha had left. She had long closed and set aside the box of candy she had received from him, but when she looks at it again, she slides it back over to get another piece for herself. The light of the sunset bathes the garden in a golden orange light, and the scent of the lilacs fade as their petals close in preparation for nightfall. The sound of footsteps approaching prompts Kaki to look up. Vegeta stands before her, his figure and dark eyes illuminated in the evening sun as he glowers down at her. She visibly shrinks and stares back at him with a wary gaze, shrouded in shadow. 

“It’s about time he left,” Vegeta says of Yamcha.

Vegeta pulls out the chair that’s across from her and sits in it, crossing his arms. Kaki’s eyes stay glued to him as she pushes the candy box out of his view and behind the potted plants.

“We’re going to talk,” Vegeta tells her, “and I’m not going to let you dodge me this time. You’ve been here for far too long to be keeping secrets from us.”

Kaki sits up a bit straighter, sighing deeply and wringing her hands together in anxiety. She looks down for a pause, but eventually nods in agreement. “All right. What do you want to know?”

“I want you to tell me how you got to Earth.”

“...It’s like I said before,” Kaki says, looking up to him. “I was dead. When I left the afterlife, I was brought here. And I cannot explain to you why, because it was not my choice.”

Vegeta sits back, stewing over her explanation. “...For some reason, I doubt that."

Kaki sits forward. "But-- Why won't you believe me...?"

" _You know why_ ," Vegeta says with a sneer. "But let’s pretend that what you’re saying is true. I’ve died before as well, so I know _exactly_ what happens to someone in death. I want you to prove your claim by describing to me what you saw and experienced as you left the mortal realm.”

Kaki looks discomforted by his demand. “I--I…”

“I will wait the entire night for your answer,” Vegeta snaps. “And believe me when I say that is a _massive_ kindness, for I am not known for my patience."

“Okay, okay…” 

Kaki takes a shuddering breath, her knuckles turning white from how tightly she is clasping them together. Then she starts.“I--I was on another planet when I was… killed. The pain I felt before I died was unbearable. Then it was gone, and I was looking down upon myself. I turned, and these two… _people_ stood before me, waiting for me. Their names were... Goz and Mez.” 

Vegeta says nothing and only stares, his jaw rolling a bit. Kaki continues.

“They did not have to tell me that I was to go with them… I just knew. And they brought me before a judge--a king--who… sentenced me for punishment. Then another pair took me to somewhere dark, and horrible, and--and threw me into…” Kaki stops, her eyes wide in fear of the memory. She hides her face in her hands suddenly and shakes her head. “I can’t… I don’t want to see it again.”

Vegeta’s eyes look her up and down, and he sighs through his nose. “Fine.”

Kaki stands suddenly, needing to get away. She scrambles to gather the box and rush past him. But she freezes in her tracks when he speaks after her.

“It will have to come out of you sometime.” Vegeta turns his head to look at her from over his shoulder. “You can’t hide it from us-- _from him_ \--forever.”

Kaki’s fingers feel cold on the box. Then, she leaves.

* * *

When Vegeta finally comes inside, Bulma is sitting at one of the lounge chairs in the living area. He takes no notice of her as he passes, but she takes notice of him, quickly standing to catch him before he disappears to sleep for the night.

"Vegeta!"

Vegeta stops, his hands in his pockets.

"What the _hell_ did you say to Kaki? She just locked herself in her room."

Vegeta sniffs, not saying anything at first. Bulma grows impatient.

"Well?"

"...She was telling the truth."

Bulma furrows her brows in confusion. Then, as realization dawns on her, her face falls. With that, Vegeta walks away.


	11. Chapter Seven

Strangely, Yamcha doesn’t hear from Kaki at all for the next week. 

It didn’t make sense. Their conversation that day in the garden had gone so well, he’d already begun to consider her a friend. Did he end up doing something wrong after all? That couldn’t be it. Maybe she backtracked, and changed her mind. That didn’t add up either -- she seemed so happy by the time he left. Despite racking his brain for answers, Yamcha just couldn’t figure it out. He tried his best not to feel a little betrayed as he went through that last week of training, generally being able to keep his mind from wandering during the grueling workouts. Though in the nights before he fell asleep he couldn’t help thinking or but to glance at his cellphone, hoping for a call. He does that almost every night up until it is Friday, and in the end, he apprehensively decides to pick up the phone himself before bed.

The line rings several times before it’s picked up.

“Hey, Yamcha,” Bulma greets, sounding preoccupied. There’s a pause, and she continues in a slightly more surprised tone. “You’re calling kinda late again.”

“Er-- Yeah, sorry. I can only really find time later at night, with the season about to start.”

“Ah, well, that’s okay. Anyway, what’s up?"

“Well, I had an idea,” Yamcha starts, scratching at a sideburn. “So, I leave for North City on Sunday, and Wrigley gave us the day off tomorrow. I’m not gonna be back for a while until a home game, so like… You wanna hang out or something tomorrow?”

“Oh! Sure! That’s a great idea,” Bulma says. Then she adds, “But what’s the _real_ reason you called?”

“Okay, I’ll see ya-- Ah.” He stops and frowns in frustration. Damn, she was good.

“I mean, like, you can still come over,” Bulma assures him. “But I can tell that’s not the only thing you’re calling about.”

“You and your good perception...”

Bulma chuckles a little. “C’mon, we’re best friends! Just tell me.”

Yamcha sighs, shaking his head to himself. “I just-- I feel kind of stupid for being worried about this. I dunno, when I left earlier this week, after talking to Kaki… Y’know, I thought she’d be open to talking more, even though I wouldn’t be able to visit. I even told her that it was cool for her to call me, if she wanted. But… I haven’t heard a single thing from her since.”

“Oh. _Ohhh._ Oh boy.” Bulma sounds like she’s made some kind of revelation.

“What do you mean, ‘oh boy’?”

“I mean, I _think_ I have a pretty good explanation for that,” Bulma starts. “Well, like, a little after you left, Vegeta told me that he ended up talking to her… About how she came to Earth. And man, okay, he made a breakthrough, but I don’t know _what_ exactly he said to her, ‘cause she got _really_ upset.”

“Why am I not surprised,” Yamcha says, his eyes narrowing a little at hearing this.

“I don’t get it. Things have gotten _super_ tense between those two lately. Like-- You should see the way they train. It’s like they’re trying to _kill_ each other. I’ve had to force-stop the gravity room almost every day this week ‘cause they wouldn’t let up.” There’s a pause from Bulma. “Maybe Vegeta really _is_ hiding something from us about Kaki after all.”

“But why?”

“I--I don’t know. He knows more about her than any of us. Maybe he’s trying not to scare us? If that's the case…" Yamcha hears her sigh shakily into the receiver. "It isn't working."

There’s a tense silence between them, and Yamcha stews over what Bulma just told him. Of course it was Vegeta. Yamcha _really_ tried to not think that badly of the guy, but somehow, Vegeta was _always_ at the center of conflict whenever something happened, whether it was battle-related or him simply being belligerent with the other warriors of Earth. Now he was butting heads with Kaki, who really hasn’t done anything wrong except keep some secrets, and was keeping everyone else in the dark about why. 

“What did he say?” Yamcha asks, of Vegeta. “How did Kaki get to Earth?”

“He just said…” Bulma gulps a little. “He only said that she was telling the truth.”

Yamcha quirks a brow at that, shifting the phone in his hold. "Telling the truth about what? That she was dead after all?”

“Yeah, exactly. He... didn’t tell me more than that.”

"Ugh. None of this sounds good," Yamcha shakes his head again. Above all, the person he was most worried about now was Bulma. If something wasn't done soon, she'd be left at the immediate mercy of two very powerful aliens with a bitter history. He bites his lip, feeling stretched thin, but takes a deep breath with resolve. "Look, I--I meant what I said earlier, okay? I'll come over tomorrow and we can like, watch a movie with Trunks or something. But… I'll also see if I can diffuse what's going on with Vegeta and Kaki."

Bulma takes a while to answer him. He eventually hears her take a deep breath of her own, and the receiver shifts on the other line. "...Okay. Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

"Okay, cool. I'll try to come by in the afternoon."

"Yamcha?"

Yamcha pauses, his expression softening at her voice. "Yeah, Bulma?"

"Thank you. For always being here. I really don't know what I'd do without you."

Yamcha clenches his fist, and says nothing more.


	12. Chapter Eight

The next afternoon, Yamcha lets himself into the private side of Capsule Corporation. He wanders through a hallway, whistling a bit as he heads to the living area. He expects to find Bulma with Trunks there, but instead of Bulma, he finds her mother, Panchy.

"Oh. Hey, Mrs. Briefs."

"Yamcha! It's always good to see you," she greets, standing and giving him a filial hug. "Bulma said you'd be by."

He returns the hug politely and pulls away. "Yeah. Where is Bulma, anyway?"

"She's been upstairs, in the viewing deck above the gravity room."

Yamcha exhales gravely, but feigns normalcy. "Ah, okay. I think I'll go get her."

"All right, dear. I’ll be here!"

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he turns and ascends to the second floor by the nearest staircase. 

It takes about a minute for him to find the room Panchy described, which was shuttered with an industrial electrical door. He punches the passcode in and walks in, finding Bulma sitting and leaning over a control panel, looking down through an angled window pane. When she turns to see who just entered, Yamcha finally sees that she looks just as tired as she sounded on the phone the night before. Red and blue flash from the window behind her. 

"Ah, you're here. Come on, you're missing the show."

She gestures for him to approach, which he does, coming to stand next to her and peer down into the window as well. The gravity room is dimly lit, which he quickly realizes was fully intentional. At first, he can only see the flashing of blue and red light sparking sporadically in areas of the room. But the more he concentrates, the more he sees what’s happening.

Kaki suddenly becomes visible and staggers back, coated in sweat and heaving deep breaths in exhaustion. Her muscles were especially pronounced, as if she was flexing every voluntary tissue she could. Yamcha realizes, as he glances to the data screen on the control panel, that she was actually straining under the immense gravity, which had been set to 375 times that of Earth's. That wasn't the only thing that struck him. Bright red energy crackles around Kaki and travels down to her palms, which flashes brightly as she catches it in both fists. She positions her arms into a defensive stance, now wielding pulsing energy like back-handed daggers. Yamcha's eyes widen in amazement, and he leans forward, resting his palms on a safe area of the control panel.

"Bulma. A--Are you seeing this?" Yamcha asks, not daring to tear his eyes away.

"Well, _now_ I am," Bulma responds, resting her cheek on her fist. "What, you didn't know she could do that?"

Yamcha shakes his head. "Not at all. I've never… seen _anything_ like it."

A blue energy blast is flung at Kaki from the front. She changes grip and blocks it by slashing through it, causing a small inconsequential explosion. She turns every which way, her arms moving fluidly, slashing upwards and down as blasts are thrown at her from all sides, occasionally changing grip to accommodate. Smoke blankets around her person but it is quickly dissipated as she flexes her arms and steps out from within it. Vegeta finally appears and lands on a knee across the room from her, also looking tired but not straining against the gravity like Kaki. He stands and shouts something that is inaudible through the glass, but from the look on his face and on Kaki's, Yamcha could tell he's pushing her to get a hit in on him. She doesn't seem to want to at first, but then her face quickly contorts with ferocious determination. She crouches and lunges forward at Vegeta, daggers poised to strike.

Just as she makes that move to attack, Vegeta disappears from his spot and reappears behind her, smashing his forearm into her side and sending her flying into the wall of the gravity room. The impact makes the viewing deck, and probably the rest of the building, shudder. Kaki collapses on the ground harshly and attempts to get back up, propping herself up on her forearms, but is unable to get up the rest of the way. Vegeta begins to step towards her, slowly. As he approaches, Kaki manages to lift her head up to stare.

Just before he’s upon her, Bulma holds down a button to activate a microphone. She gives Yamcha a knowing glance before speaking into it.

"All right, you two, that's quite enough."

She presses a larger blue button and the gravity setting gradually decreases back to normal, and the lights turn back on. Kaki's muscles no longer bulge and she throws her head down in relief, her back rising and falling as she tries to catch her breath. Vegeta looks up and into the glass of the window, and while Yamcha knows that the viewing deck isn't visible from inside, he knows that Vegeta senses his presence. 

Good.

* * *

When Yamcha gets to the corridor leading to the gravity room's entrance, he is met by Vegeta, who had stepped out and was grabbing a towel from the rack next to the door. Vegeta gives him a glare as Yamcha approaches and stops just a few feet away. 

"Hey," Yamcha says, serious. "We need to talk."

"Tch." Vegeta throws the towel over his shoulders pointedly. "About what?"

"About you and Kaki,” answers Yamcha. He puts his hands on his hips, looking exasperated. "Look, I don't know _what_ the hell went on between you two in Freeza's army, but you really need to tone it down. You're scaring Bulma--" 

Yamcha hesitates saying this next part, but decides his pride isn't worth the dishonesty. "And quite frankly, after hearing and seeing what I did, you're scaring me, too."

Vegeta quirks a brow. " _I'm_ scaring you?"

"Yeah. Can't you two just... talk or something?"

Vegeta scoffs at that and lets out a sardonic laugh. "What, you think I haven't tried?"

"Then maybe you should back off," Yamcha retorts, frowning. "She isn’t doing anything wrong. If she isn't ready to talk, then just leave it at that."

Vegeta pauses, his expression turning stony. "Oh. So you're defending her now?"

Yamcha sighs through his nose, looking down in doubt. Then his brows wrinkle together and he makes eye contact again, standing up a little straighter. "...Yeah. I guess I am."

Vegeta shoots him a dark look, one that almost makes Yamcha wince. But then Vegeta makes a frustrated sound of resignation, before moving to walk past him, where Yamcha steps away a little to give him room. "Fine, then. You go ahead and be patient and see how well it does you."

Then Vegeta stops just beside him, glaring at Yamcha from over his shoulder. "If you knew what I knew… I don't think you'd be wanting to play the waiting game with someone like _her_."

With finality, Vegeta saunters away, leaving Yamcha standing to watch after him with wide eyes. Once he’s out of view, Yamcha takes a deep breath, and releases his clenched fists to run a hand through his hair, suddenly aware of how tense he was. He just couldn’t understand. Where was this kind of suspicion when Kaki first got here? Was he just tolerating her at first? Why won’t Vegeta say anything now, then? Yamcha shakes his head to himself, gazing back in the direction Vegeta had left. Even more questions, and no answers.

The sound of the gravity room door opening snaps him out of his thoughts, and he turns to see Kaki stepping out, still red in the face and sweaty from the athletics and looking exhausted. As she reaches up for a towel and takes one, she happens to look up and does a double-take at seeing him. She freezes in the middle of unfolding the towel, staring at him with wide eyes. Yamcha doesn't say anything at first and instead glances down to her hands, seeing that she’s clutching the towel so hard her knuckles were turning white. She quickly resumes her motion, beginning to wipe at her forehead and neck.

“Y--Yamcha. What are you doing here?” she asks, trying but failing to sound nonchalant.

"I'm, uh," Yamcha starts, clearing his throat a bit, "I'm here to spend the day with Bulma, since I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Leaving?" Kaki looks at him fully, confused, but her expression quickly turns to realization as the memory dawns on her. "Oh. The baseball."

"Yeah." Yamcha nods a little in confirmation, giving her a half-smile. He looks down and scratches the back of his head as she approaches and comes to stand before him, letting her towel now hang over one of her shoulders. Then he looks at her again, trying to sound pleasant despite his true intentions. "I watched your spar with Vegeta just now. I've never seen anyone fight with their energy like that before. Did it take you long to learn to do that?"

Kaki seems apprehensive to answer at first, but eventually shrugs. "...Sort of."

As expected, she offers no further explanation. Damn. Now Yamcha was beginning to understand Vegeta's frustration a little. Her mouth was shut tighter than an oyster's shell.

"Well, it was pretty awesome to watch," Yamcha says after a pause.

Kaki turns to look down the empty corridor they stood in. "Vegeta says that I am not aggressive enough in battle. I… hesitate too much."

Yamcha's face falls a little at her tone. She sounded disappointed in herself, like she wasn't trying hard enough. "...Vegeta doesn't really get that, sometimes, hesitation is a strength. It means you know how to pick your battles. You shouldn't feel bad for not always wanting to do things one-hundred percent all the time."

Kaki doesn't say anything as she stares down the hall. Yamcha's expression finally shifts to that of concern as he sees the worry-wrinkles etched between her brows, the tiredness in her eyes. He puts his hands in his pockets, leaning a little to try and get her to look at him again.

"Vegeta's been giving you a hard time lately."

"Who told you that?" asks Kaki, not yet looking at him.

"Bulma did. She's… kinda worried about what's been going on with you two," Yamcha explains.

Kaki finally looks up to him when he says that, shocked and guilty.

"I talked to Vegeta just before you came out, but… Hmph. You know how he is," he continues, frowning a little.

"I--I'm sorry," Kaki says, hopelessly shaking her head.

"And here I was, under the impression you two were friends," Yamcha mutters, frowning at himself. Then he tilts his head at her in sympathy. “What happened, after I left?”

Kaki sighs shakily. “Vegeta… wanted to know how I got to Earth. And I told him, but… I couldn’t tell him everything. A--And he didn’t believe me. So he tested me.”

Yamcha was finally beginning to see what Vegeta was doing -- he was trying to force out information about her motives on Earth. Perhaps he just got tired of waiting. The way Kaki reacted that night in the kitchen, when he had tea with her -- it was obvious she was sensitive about her past and felt some kind of remorse for it, and Yamcha knew it was better to let people like that share their story at their own pace. That was the way he was, when he left the desert and became friends with Goku and everyone else. What Vegeta was trying to do, now it was no wonder to him why Kaki never made another attempt in talking to him. 

His stomach churns in guilt. It wasn’t right. 

“He tested you? How?”

“He… made me tell him what it was like when I died. Because he had died, too.”

Yamcha’s breath catches in his throat as memories flood back to him. 

Yamcha remembers the events leading up to and after his death. He remembers the saibaman he had foolishly assumed was dead suddenly leaping and latching onto him, leaving him unable to move his torso. As his friends shouted in alarm, he tried to force it off. Then, there was a flash of light and pain. As the dust settled, Yamcha got back up, wondering at how he was left strangely unharmed. Stepping out of the hole he was lying in, he approached the others to tell them he was all right. But they didn’t hear him. Not even when he shouted at them did they hear him. It was only when Krillin ran to the hole he’d walked out of that he turned and finally realized what happened. 

There in the hole was his corpse, unrecognizable from the saibamen’s self-destructive explosion. Just before the horror of realization began to flood through him, a large hand was set on his shoulder, and a deep voice compelled him to follow. And he didn’t argue. 

As he was led away from the site by two hulking strangers, he looked back one final time.

“...And what did you tell him?” Yamcha asks cautiously, his gaze still distant.

He finally snaps back to reality when he hears Kaki sniffle loudly. Her face was red and her lips quivered as she fought back tears, which she rubbed away with the heel of her hand. Yamcha recalls the year of relative peace after his revival, where replays of that day plagued his dreams and disturbed his waking moments. He remembers the nights where sleep eluded him, and the days where he cried to himself just as Kaki was doing right then.

There was no way she was lying.

“Wait.”

Kaki slowly looks up at him as he puts a hand on her bare shoulder. His expression is stony at first, but then it softens with sympathy when he meets her gaze.

“You don’t have to tell me. Not if you’re not ready.”

Kaki just stares at him for what feels like forever, until it dawns on her.

“You’ve also--?”

Yamcha gives her a sad smile. “Yeah.”

“I--I didn’t know,” Kaki says.

“It’s all right. You couldn’t have known,” Yamcha tells her, pulling away. He shrugs a little. “Besides, we’re friends now. I trust your word for it.”

“Friends,” Kaki repeats, her gaze drifting from him. She doesn’t say anything for a long moment, until she gulps and looks back up to him. “I’m sorry I never called, after I said I would. I... got too embarrassed to ask Bulma after all.”

“Hey, it’s cool, I totally understand. There’s no need for you to apologize for _that_ ,” Yamcha assures her, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. “You say ‘sorry’ too much, you know.”

“I do?” Kaki blinks a little. “Sorr--” She stops suddenly, finding herself doing it again, and closes her mouth, which Yamcha chuckles a little at.

“Good catch,” he says with a wink.

A tiny smile crosses Kaki’s lips, which Yamcha meets with a full smile of his own. Kaki turns, not yet tearing her gaze from him, beginning to leave. “Well… M--Maybe I should go now. To shower.”

“Okay.” Yamcha lets her go at first, watching her walk off, until he perks up a bit. “Wait, Kaki, hold on. I’ve got an idea.”

Kaki stops, turning to look back at Yamcha curiously.

“You should join us when you’re done. Me and Bulma, I mean. We’re gonna watch a movie with her kid,” Yamcha tells her, before adding, “If you want, I’ll even help you out with that phone situation, too.”

Kaki’s brows raise at his proposition, and glances to the side thoughtfully. “Um. Well. O--Okay! I will see you in… a little bit.”

“Great.”


	13. Chapter Nine

After talking with Kaki, Yamcha headed back to the living area, assuming Bulma had already come back downstairs. He finds Panchy still there in one of the lounge chairs, looking through a magazine. Then he looks to the opposite side of the room towards the T.V., seeing Bulma kneeling on the floor, sorting through a stand of VHS tapes with Trunks. Bulma senses his presence and turns to see Yamcha standing at the threshold, leaning onto the wall with his shoulder. She gives him a nod and turns to Trunks to tell him something, before standing and crossing the carpet to talk to Yamcha.

"So how’d it go?" she asks, crossing her arms in anticipation.

"Well, I talked to Vegeta first, and… You can imagine how well  _ that _ went." Yamcha frowns and gives Bulma a look, which she responds with a roll of her eyes. Then he shrugs. "But, I think he's going to back off of Kaki. For now, at least."

“That’s better than nothing, I guess,” Bulma says, looking exasperated. “How’s Kaki doing?”

Yamcha shakes his head a little. “She felt really bad about the whole thing, but… It wasn’t much her fault in the first place, considering Vegeta’s been antagonizing her.”

Bulma touches her chin thoughtfully. “Have you got an inkling as to why he’s being like that?”

"Well, he's obviously trying to get Kaki to say how and why she's here on Earth, 'cause he knows something about her that would make him distrust her. Thing is, Kaki's a bit… cagey about it. I couldn't get much out of her. W--Which is understandable. Dying and coming back…” Yamcha’s face turns grim in the beat he takes to sigh. “...It's stressful, to say the least."

Bulma doesn’t say anything at first as a look of realization crosses her face. "So she  _ is _ telling the truth. About having been dead.”

Yamcha rolls his jaw. "...Yeah. She has to be."

"That's awful," Bulma mumbles, shaking her head in sympathy. Then her nose wrinkles in irritation. "Good grief! I don't understand why Vegeta has to be so-- So-- Like that. I mean, what, it's not like  _ we _ did that to him when he came back from Namek.”

Yamcha looks down at the floor in silent agreement, saying nothing more. Then he brings his gaze back up to Bulma as he remembers something. “Hey, I’ve also got…  _ another _ favor to ask.”

Bulma gives him a smug look. “You  _ have _ been kinda needy lately, haven’t you?”

“Aw, c’mon, that’s not fair,” Yamcha whines, deflating a little. 

“I’m just teasing, gosh!” Bulma says with a light laugh. “All right, so what’s up?”

“Well, like-- Kaki’s kind of showed interest in… having a phone.” 

“Wow, really? That's kinda surprising. I wish she’d told me...”

“Yeah, she--she said she got… embarrassed about asking. I’d get her one myself, but I barely have time to shop for groceries with my schedule being the way it is. And now I’m about to leave for the season.” Yamcha sighs deeply. “You think you can, like, I dunno-- get her a cell or somethin’? I--I can pay for it, no problem.”

“Oh, yeah, I can do that. You really don’t have to pay for it, though.” Bulma gives him a wink. “I’m pretty sure I can get something for her.”

Yamcha gives Bulma a thankful smile, and then rubs his neck a little. “Also, I hope this wasn’t like, inappropriate to do or anything, but I sorta invited her to join us for the movie.” 

"Oh yeah?" Bulma raises her brows at that. 

"Yeah." He frowns a little out of worry. “She just… I don’t know if I’d wanna leave her to her thoughts after the talk I had with her.”

Bulma blinks a little, but then nods in understanding. “Hey, that's totally fine. Better than letting her isolate herself in her room again.”

“Definitely. But,” Yamcha shrugs, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if she actually comes.”

“Mama?”

Yamcha looks past Bulma as she turns at the sound of her son's voice. Trunks steps over with a VHS case in his hands, looking up to Bulma with big blue eyes just like her own. 

"Is this one okay?" asks Trunks, where Bulma takes the case from him to look.

Yamcha instantly recognizes the movie just from a glance at the cover art-- _ Jazz and the Dinosaur _ , one of Trunks' favorite movies. Yamcha knew the movie like the back of his hand now, from seeing it so many times with Trunks in the past. Even with its cliché title, it had a profound message of family that Yamcha didn't expect but appreciated from a children's movie. What made it memorable, however, was that Trunks was able to comprehend the themes well enough at age three. Yamcha finds himself briefly remembering when he first watched it with Trunks as Bulma looks it over and leans a little down to Trunks.

"Oh, are you sure, sweetie? It's gonna make you cry," she says to him.

"It's okay. It's a good cry."

That's the same thing Trunks told him back then. He was a sharp kid, but that came as no surprise to Yamcha.

"Well, all right, if that's what you want." Bulma turns to Yamcha, handing the VHS over to him. "You think you can put this in and make sure it's rewound? I'll go and make some popcorn."

"Yeah, sure." 

As Bulma walks away to the kitchen, Trunks steps up to Yamcha and leans against him at his leg. "I wanna help."

"All righty, big guy, come and help me then."

He kneels and lets Trunks push the movie into the VCR, and takes a couple minutes to remind him of what each button does. It doesn't take long for Trunks to figure it out, and eventually they find that the movie was halfway watched and had to be rewound. When Yamcha has to use the separate VHS rewinder, Trunks loses interest quickly and goes to sit on the couch and bounce his legs on the cushion. It's an awkward minute as Yamcha remains there waiting for the VHS to rewind, but eventually it's finished and he bends again to put it back into the VCR.

"Hi, dear!" he hears Panchy say in pleasant surprise. "Are you going to watch the movie with us?"

"Um, y-yes."

As he presses the PAUSE button, Yamcha glances over through the corner of his eye to see Kaki at the threshold, her hair loose and still damp from the shower. He does a double-take and withdraws his hand faster than he anticipates, banging it on the underside of the wooden TV stand, causing the others in the room to jump. He winces but tries to play it cool and shake away the brief wave of pain.

"Hey! You’re here," he says to Kaki as he pops back up to his feet, giving her a smile.

Kaki smiles a little in return, and crosses her arms lightly. "Um, where is Ms. Briefs?"

"Bulma? She went to get popcorn," Yamcha says thoughtfully, stroking his chin a little. "She should be back any sec--"

Bulma appears behind Kaki he says it, a large bowl of popcorn in hand. She stops in her tracks and looks surprised as Kaki turns to meet her gaze. "Kaki! So you  _ are _ joining in. Gah, I should have made some popcorn without butter or something…"

Kaki waves a hand in reassurance, looking apologetic. "Oh, no, it is quite all right--"

"I'll get some, baby! I think we still have some kettle corn bags," Panchy says to Bulma, rising from her place at the lounge chair. "Y’all go ahead and start, I won't be long."

"'Kay, mama," Bulma responds, watching as her mother walks out. Then she turns back with a smile. "All right, well, let's get this party started!"

With that, they move to take their seats. Bulma sits at a second lounge chair, opposite from the one Panchy previously occupied, which was furthest from the corridor. Yamcha sits at the end of the sofa closest to her, with Trunks moving from the middle seat to lay on the floor before the T.V. Kaki, however, is left standing, looking unsure of herself. As Bulma fishes out the remotes from her chair's side-pocket, Yamcha looks to Kaki and perks a brow, before giving her another smile and patting the backrest of the sofa.

"You can sit here, if you want," he suggests.

"Oh. Yes. Okay," Kaki says awkwardly. 

She moves further into the room and pointedly sits at the other end of the couch, leaving Yamcha in her blind spot, and the gap between the two of them like a chasm. Yamcha finds himself feeling a little disappointed, but the feeling is quickly swept away as Trunks flips over onto his back to stare at Kaki. Yamcha glances to Kaki for her reaction, finding that she just stares back at the boy with a puzzled expression. As the lights dim and the opening music to the movie begins, Trunks takes his index finger and places it across his right eye, still staring at Kaki. Yamcha looks between them a couple times, and quickly realizes he's probably mimicking Kaki's blind eye. He clears his throat to address it.

"Whatcha doin' there, big guy?"

It takes a moment for Trunks to answer. "You and Uncle Yamcha… match."

Yamcha and Kaki glance at each other in surprise, and then shift in their seats in embarrassment. 

Bulma sits forward to look at them both, having overheard the exchange, before furrowing a brow at her son. "What do you mean by that, baby?"

"Same scar," Trunks elaborates, making a slashing motion with his finger over his eye. 

Yamcha blinks, but then attempts to laugh it off. "Oh! We kinda do have similar scars, don't we?"

"They look cool," Trunks says, smiling.

"Really," Kaki murmurs flatly.

Yamcha raises his brows at Kaki's distant expression and shares a glance with Bulma, who winces a little in agreement with him. She sits forward to give Trunks a stern look. "It's rude to point things like that out to people, baby."

Trunks' smile falls to a stony expression of guilt. "Oh. Sorry."

"No no, it's okay, Ms. Briefs," Kaki finally says. "I have just… never thought about it like that before."

Bulma raises her brows at that. "Oh.”

Kaki looks back down to Trunks to give him a half-smile. Then she touches an index finger to her scar, where it crossed over her cheekbone. "Heh. I--I suppose it does look…  _ cool _ ."

Yamcha smiles a little at her expression, before it turns to a playful smirk. "Wait. If I’ve  _ two _ scars, does that make me… double-cool?"

Kaki raises a brow at that and leans an elbow on the couch armrest, looking a bit teasing. “If that’s the logic you’d like to follow.”

“Whoa.” Yamcha gives her an amused look. “Now what’s  _ that  _ supposed to mean?”

"She's got a lot more than you, though," Trunks says, grinning, "so she's  _ way _ cooler."

Yamcha runs a hand over his face, trying not to laugh at himself getting dunked on by a four-year old. "Ouch, guys."

Bulma snorts. "Okay, I think that's about enough, you three. I meant what I said earlier, Trunks."

"Yes, mama."

Yamcha and Kaki share a look, where Yamcha leans toward her to speak. “Kids. Gotta love ‘em.”

Kaki pulls away without responding, but gives him a stifled smile in agreement as they all settle back to pay attention to the movie. At some point, Panchy returns wordlessly and sits in the chair closest to Kaki's seat at the couch, offering her a bowl of popcorn, which she takes graciously. The rest of the movie-watching goes on rather peacefully, with Trunks glued to the screen, and Bulma, Yamcha, and Panchy idly paying attention. 

After a while, about halfway to the end of the movie, Yamcha’s mind drifts, as does his gaze, to Kaki. He wonders if she’d ever done something like sitting down and watching a movie, while in Freeza's army. Did they even have stuff like that, all the way out there in the stars? Judging by her look of focused awe and how she thoughtfully ate away at the popcorn kernel by kernel, the experience must have been at least foreign to her. She looked the most relaxed she’d ever been, even if she still sat rigidly upright, as if she didn’t know how to sit back and fully unwind. It was progress, at least.

"Why have you been so nice to me?" the dinosaur on screen asks gruffly. "Why won't you just leave?"

Then, Yamcha suddenly notices that Kaki is no longer eating or watching the movie. Her hand is frozen in the motion of reaching into the bowl of popcorn, and her jaw is clenched in unease, with her head turned slightly towards the threshold of the living room, where the hallway has already turned dark as afternoon had turned to evening. There, Yamcha makes out Vegeta’s shadowy silhouette, nearly unnoticeable from where Yamcha sat. 

"Because you need someone," says Jazz.

"And you aren't all that bad!" adds another.

Vegeta stands there, glaring at them all, his pupils catching the light of the television and glinting slightly from his place in the darkness. Kaki has gone unnaturally still, tense and staring back at him, the glow of the T.V. outlining her silhouette. Yamcha finally meets Vegeta’s gaze and glares back at him, his eyes narrowing just enough to send a message. 

"Even if you're big and scary, you don't deserve to be lonely," Jazz continues. "So we're going to be here for you. Whether you like it or not."

After a long, tense moment, Vegeta turns and walks out of view, and doesn’t bother them for the rest of the night.


	14. Fourth Intermission

Late in the night, Vegeta is awoken to the sound of feet padding past his door. His eyes shoot open and he sits up in bed just as suddenly, looking towards the door for a few tense moments. Then he throws the sheet off him and silently walks to his door, cracking the door ajar to peek out. At the very end of the hall, he sees a short figure turn the corner. His eyes narrow in suspicion, before he fully steps out and begins to follow.

He finds himself led to the private communications room, which has stayed inactive since the Freeza threat. The lights inside aren’t switched on, but the glow of a monitor spills out into the hall from the thin cracks of the industrial doors. Vegeta does not dare to open the doors. Instead, he cautiously presses his ear against the cold metal.

He hears Kaki mumbling to herself, drowned out by the sound of loud static and radio silence cutting in and out as she rhythmically presses keys on the control board.

“Nothing… There’s nothing…” he hears her say. She takes a shaking breath, still continuing her motion of going through frequencies. “Surely they would be sending out signals… Right?” Suddenly her tapping stops and she slams against the keyboard with a sound of frustration, which makes Vegeta jolt.

“I don’t understand. What did they even send me here for? I’m… stranded.”

Vegeta’s jaw clenches as his breath catches in his throat, and keeps listening for more. There’s nothing else but the sound of the radio equipment being shut down. Then, there’s a long pause. 

“...I will have to check again, later...”

The doors open quietly, and Kaki peeks her head out into the dark hall, looking down either end to find them empty. She sighs in relief. She fully steps out and lets the doors close behind her, taking a moment to turn back to punch in a lock code. When done with that, she leaves, going back the way she came.

Around a corner, opposite from where Kaki walked off, Vegeta stands with his fists clenched and his chest heaving. Fear and rage bubbles in the pit of his stomach. He was right. He’s always right. But who would listen to him now?


	15. Chapter Ten

Yamcha and the rest of the Taitans team were heading out from South City to East City after their win against the South City Sea Monsters, to prepare for their second game of the season. As usual, they were accommodated with a plane and good meals in the dew hours it took to get there. It was just twenty minutes after take-off, and most of the players were already catching up on some snoozing before they were to land. 

Yamcha found himself unable to sleep for that particular late flight, instead gazing out the window in boredom. Kaki's energy radiated in the distance, and he wonders how she's doing, and if she's already asleep. Even from hundreds of miles away, he could still sense her energy at most times when he focused on it. While it was unnerving at first, after he came to know a bit of her, he didn't think much of it anymore. If anything, Yamcha was glad to know there was finally someone else around to balance the uncertainty he felt around Vegeta being Earth's protector. While Vegeta was certainly capable of hypothetically defending Earth from a future threat, with his history of sabotaging battles to further his ego, he was still a wildcard in dependability. Kaki, on the other hand… In actuality, what she'd be willing to do for Earth remained to be seen, and as much as Yamcha liked her, she came off as a bit too demure to be comparable to a warrior of Vegeta's caliber. But he had a feeling that if the time were to come, she would be the type to be devoted to a role of the protector. And that was enough to put his mind at ease.

Just as he's thinking of it, Kaki's energy blips out of existence.

Yamcha suddenly becomes more alert, sitting forward. He looks out the window in confusion, his reflection wide-eyed as he braced himself on the armrests.

"Rgh. Fuck, dude, chill," mumbles one of his teammates, who sat next to him, "s'just some turbulence…" Then she falls back into full sleep with a snore.

Yamcha forces himself to sit back so as to not cause a scene, but crosses his arms over his chest, extremely concerned. He sits like that for the next twenty minutes, trying to keep his leg from bouncing in anxiety. Then his cell phone rings, loudly, causing him to jolt. His teammate groans loudly in frustration and turns away from him to face the aisle. Yamcha winces as he steps over his teammate’s crossed legs and walks down to the back of the plane, where the bathroom was, pulling the curtain closed for some privacy. He pulls his phone out of his pocket to look at the caller I.D.

An unknown number.

Yamcha’s brows furrow together in confusion, and he apprehensively presses the green button to accept the call. He puts the receiver to his ear.

“Who is this?” he asks, keeping his voice low.

“Um. It’s me,” says a familiar voice, thick in accent. "I'm sorry, did I call at a bad time?"

"Kaki! Hey!" Yamcha says in pleasant surprise, feeling relief wash over him. "No, you're fine, really. I just didn't expect it, is all."

"Oh. Okay."

Yamcha stands up straighter. "I'm guessing Bulma got you that phone, huh?"

"Yes! A couple days ago," Kaki tells him. "I would have called then, but… I was still trying to learn how to use it."

"That's awesome though! And I mean, hey," he reassures her, "you called now. That's better than never."

"You're right," Kaki agrees. Then after a pause, she continues. "I should be thanking you, though. I don't think I would be talking to you right now if you didn't help me."

"It's no problem. I'm always happy to." Yamcha crosses his free arm over his chest and leans back onto the wall. "So, uh, I've got something a little funny to ask. You've been training with Vegeta, right?"

"Um, yes."

“And you’re aware of the whole, _warriors on Earth can sense energy_ , thing.”

“Yes…?”

“Okay. Okay,” Yamcha says, nodding to himself. “So like… You're okay, right?”

“Of course I’m okay,” Kaki answers, sounding confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, like, y’know… Your energy kinda went off my radar.”

“Oh,” she says, as if not understanding what he meant. Then, after a pause, she speaks again. “ _Oh!_ Oh, I was--”

Suddenly, Yamcha feels her energy come back.

“I'm training,” she explains with a breathy laugh.

“Geez Louise. This time of night?”

“I--I couldn’t sleep. I thought time in the gravity room would help,” Kaki tells him.

Yamcha’s brows furrow at that. “Are you still in there?”

“Yes. It’s okay, though, I don’t have the gravity set very high.” Yamcha feels a little relief at that. “I was trying the, um, energy suppression. It took some concentration... But it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.”

“Heh, yeah. It’s something fighters here learn after picking up how to sense energy. Which, like, I guess _when_ you learn it depends on when you start proper martial arts training or whatever.”

“Yes! I had never heard of such a thing before I came here,” Kaki says, sounding impressed. “You know, in the army, it is not really common to train in such a manner, to draw out your energy for battle. Especially on my home planet. We were expected to go into more… academic occupations.”

Yamcha turns to fully lean back onto the wall. “I guess that wasn’t your thing, though, huh?”

“Hah. No. Well, I wasn’t particularly good at _anything_ as a child,” she says, sounding a little awkward in saying it. “And when I was conscripted, I… didn’t find my place until much, much later.”

“ _Conscripted?_ ” Yamcha knows the implications of that word, but he dares to ask just to be sure. “You mean you were _forced_ to join Freeza’s army?”

There’s a long silence on the other line. Yamcha’s throat tightens, knowing he had very well poked at something he shouldn’t have. He wants to say something, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Instead he waits to see what she says, holding his breath.

“...Yes,” Kaki finally answers, her voice monotonous. She sighs before continuing. “It’s a law, where I am from. They… take one from each family--the oldest child--when they turn to teens. My brother was supposed to go, but… h--he died. Even though I was too young, I was sent in his place. To meet the quota."

Yamcha feels his stomach churn. Somehow, this was just as bad as learning she had willingly joined Freeza, if not worse. He runs a hand over his forehead. “Gosh, I--I’m sorry, Kaki.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t do anything wrong," Kaki says quietly. "I just… I haven't shared that in a long time.”

“We don’t have to talk about it anymore, if you don’t want to.”

“...I don’t.”

There’s another long silence between them, where Yamcha doesn’t know what else to say. He was mostly putting the few pieces he had of Kaki’s background together in his mind. She was forced to enter the army as a child because of some law, and then ended up running away as an adult… Yamcha couldn’t even begin to imagine what happened in all that time between, or what pushed her to make that final decision in leaving. In the end, he was just glad she was on Earth now, and free from whatever horrors she faced in Freeza’s army.

“W--Where are you right now?” Kaki finally asks, sniffling a little.

Yamcha is also all-too eager to change the subject. “Uh, we’re flying over to East City from South City right now… Heh, I’m gonna be knocked _out_ when we get into the hotel.”

“You deserve it. You were really good at the game,” Kaki says.

“Oh.” Yamcha smiles at that. “You watched it?”

“Yes. I did.” He hears her chuckle a little. “You hit the, um, _ball catcher_ really well when you were up."

"Huh? Oh. _Oh._ That."

Kaki giggles this time, something light and girlish, which was unlike the usual lower tone she spoke in. "I'm sorry! It was funny. I feel bad for laughing at the poor man falling over."

“Ugh! I just swung too hard, okay? The bat slipped from my hands,” he says defensively, but then laughs. “Don’t feel _too_ bad, though. I mean, it _was_ pretty funny. He kinda fell over like they do in cartoons, huh?"

Kaki's bursts into laughter, the sound bright and musical, like the ringing of a well-tuned bell. Yamcha’s breath hitches in surprise at the sound, and quickly realizes that this is the first time he’s heard her laugh-- _really_ laugh. She’d been so reserved with him up until this point, Yamcha just couldn’t conjure a picture of how she would look in the middle of a laugh. Fleetingly, with a pleasant tightness blossoming in his chest, he wishes he was there to see it. Kaki subsides as suddenly as she had started, sounding as if she was covering her mouth with her hand as she calms down to speak.

“Oh, goodness.” Her voice still jumps as she’s still recovering from her fit of laughter. “I hope I didn’t wake anyone up.”

“I’m sure you’re fine,” he tells her reassuringly, grinning. He bites his lip just before he continues. “You’ve got a nice laugh, y’know.”

“I-- Heh. Um.” She lets out a final chuckle, and he hears her handle the phone a little on the other line. “...Well, I--I think I should go to bed…”

_Ah, geez. She completely dodged it._

“You should sleep, too,” Kaki adds, just before he feels completely embarrassed.

“Ah, yeah, maybe I should get a little shut-eye before we land…” Yamcha says, and punctuates the pause with a yawn as he finally feels the effects of staying up late. He sighs through his nose after. “Hey, it was good to hear from ya. You should call again, soon. If you want.”

“...Okay. I’ll try,” Kaki says, sounding bashful. “Goodnight, Yamcha.”

“G’night. Sleep well.”

The line clicks off and Yamcha lets his phone-arm fall to his lap. He stays leaning against the wall for several moments, drowsily looking at the unknown caller number on the screen of his cellphone. His expression softens a little, and then he begins to punch in a series of buttons. When he’s done, he’s taken to a page where it shows the single name of a newly registered phone number: **KAKI.** He looks at it again long enough that the screen dims from idleness, and he takes that as cue to stuff it back into his pocket and head back to his seat to try to sleep.


	16. Chapter Eleven

After getting off the phone with Yamcha, Kaki sat on the floor with her legs crossed, idly running her thumb over the decorative ridges on her cell phone. The drone of lonesome silence began to wash over her ears like the crashing waves of an ocean, and when it became unbearable, she got up, shut off the gravity settings, and left.

She couldn't sleep when she got to bed. Not when she took a warm shower; not when she tried to drink warm tea; not when she got into clothes for sleep; not even when she got under the covers and turned off the light. She was restless, tossing and turning in a fruitless effort to find sleep. Frustrated and exhausted, she ultimately settles on her back and stares into the darkness, clutching her hands at her stomach. As her vision began to swirl, so did her mind. It would wander and open parts of her memory she tried so desperately to keep closed for her own sanity. She hated nights like these, because nothing she tried would put her at ease. She eventually forces her eyes shut, but there is no rest.

Eventually morning came. When the light spilling into her room became too bright to ignore, Kaki got up again. Her mind was mush as she went through the motions of getting cleaned up and putting on appropriate clothing with shoes. It was like floating through dense fog as she trudged to the kitchen, and silently looked for something to eat. She eventually settled on eating a banana from the fruit bowl. She stands there, peeled banana in hand, and barely noticing when Bulma walks in.

“Oh.” Bulma pauses at the threshold, before beginning again to cross the room to the refrigerator. “Hey, Kaki.”

Kaki's gaze becomes more present, and she gulps down a bite. “Good afternoon, Ms. Briefs.”

Bulma chuckles a little as she gathers a bundle of spinach greens and some frozen fruit from the freezer. "It's _Bulma_. There's no need for you to be so formal with me all the time."

"Oh. Sorry," Kaki mumbles, rubbing at her eyes a little. She definitely remembers Bulma telling her so a couple days ago, but it had slipped her mind right then. "I'm just tired today, I suppose."

"Didn't sleep well? Eh. I do that a lot, too."

Kaki watches curiously as Bulma washes the spinach and sets them out on the counter beside a little appliance she forgot the name of. Bulma doubles back to get a carton from the fridge, before beginning to put the ingredients inside the glass cup. Kaki doesn't see exactly what she does, but there's a loud whirring noise, and Bulma eventually removes the cup from the appliance and sets out a cup for herself.

"What do you have there?" Kaki asks, watching Bulma pour a green concoction into the glass.

"Oh! It's a, uh, a smoothie," Bulma says.

Kaki nods, finally finishing her banana. "A smoothie."

"What, you haven’t had a smoothie yet?"

"Well, I--" Kaki blinks, before shaking her head. "...No."

Bulma laughs a little. "Get over here, then, there's enough for two."

Kaki, after throwing away the banana peel, steps over to stand beside Bulma, who now has a second glass pours the rest of the smoothie into a second glass. She then slides it over to Kaki, who takes it and stares at it a moment, before lifting it and sniffing it a little. She glances at Bulma apprehensively, not yet doing anything.

“It’s okay, I used the almond milk,” Bulma assures her.

Looking a little less concerned, Kaki takes a sip of the smoothie. It was rather sweet, despite the spinach she saw Bulma put into it, with a citrus flavor that was accompanied by the distinct taste of banana. Kaki blinks a little in pleasant surprise and then glances at Bulma, who only stares at her with a small smile, waiting for her reaction. After a beat, Kaki takes a larger drink from the glass, which makes Bulma snort.

“Pretty good, huh?”

Kaki nods while gulping. “Yes.”

“See?” Bulma makes a gesture, then crosses her arms. “And people say I’m bad in the kitchen.”

"Do they?"

"Yeah! Just because I burned a duck 'cause I forgot about it in the oven. And then when I put a plastic plate on a lit burner. And then when…" Bulma stops, frowning a little, before breaking into a grin. "Okay, maybe I _am_ pretty bad in the kitchen."

Kaki quirks a brow from behind her glass. "Perhaps 'safety hazard' would be more apt."

"Wh-- Hey now," Bulma says, setting her now finished smoothie glass on the counter with a cocked brow. "I'd like to see _you_ try to cook something like duck!"

"I've learned a thing or two from Mrs. Briefs, you know," Kaki replies a little smugly. "If you are looking for a challenge."

"Agh! Geez. Shown up by the alien who's only been here three months," Bulma says with a playful frown, before laughing. "Go figure!"

Kaki chuckles at that, shaking her head a little as she takes another gulp of the smoothie. She realizes now that, after having something more substantial to eat, she actually feels a lot better despite her sleep deprivation. She blinks a little, her eyes burning only a bit now, and then drinks the final bit of the smoothie. She stands for a moment, before wordlessly taking Bulma's glass in her free hand and taking both glasses to the sink to wash them.

"You are on your lunch break, I'm assuming," Kaki says, turning on the sink to start by rinsing the glasses.

"Yeah. I'm not that hungry though, so I thought I'd just have that and relax the rest of the time," Bulma explains, stretching her arms above her head. She brings them back down and leans against the counter, watching Kaki at the sink. "You know, my mom told me she heard you up last night, talking in the gravity room."

Kaki pauses, soapy sponge in hand. Then she continues. "Did she?"

"Yeah. She also said it sounded like you were talking to someone."

"I was," Kaki says, and then further clarifies, "Um, with Yamcha."

"Oh. Okay." After a beat, Bulma smirks. "Putting that phone to good use, eh?"

"I--I guess you could say that," Kaki says, aware of Bulma's teasing tone.

Bulma giggles a little at that. "Aw, that's so cute! You and Yamcha staying up late to talk on the phone, just like teenagers."

"I--! Hah. I mean, it just--" Kaki sighs, at a loss for words. "It has been a little while since we last talked, you know?"

"It's cool, I understand!" Bulma reassures her, before playfully adding, "I mean, we also did that a lot when we first started dating--"

Kaki stumbles in her motion of putting the second washed cup on the drying rack, causing a bit of a ruckus, which makes Bulma giggle a little more. Kaki quickly dries her hands and turns away from the sink, feeling her ears burn hot in embarrassment. 

"Oh no, you're tomato red!" Bulma says between laughs, covering her grin with a hand. "I was just teasing you."

"I know," Kaki tells her, feeling a smile begin to tug at one side of her mouth. She rubs the back of her neck nervously. "You and Yamcha… used to be together?"

"Yeah," Bulma confirms with a nonchalant nod. "We met way back when we were teenagers. It was kinda like a, uh, _love-at-first-sight_ thing. But, y'know. We were both really young, and we were each other’s first. Statistically, it usually doesn’t work out the first time around. Not like in the movies."

Kaki looks down, her chest aching in understanding. “It doesn’t.”

"I mean, it's like-- It lasted a _while_. But then a lot of shit happened, and we eventually decided it was best if we were just friends." Bulma waves a hand dismissively. "It's okay though, we've been over it for a long time. We're better friends than we ever were as lovers, anyway."

"I see," Kaki says, nodding. Her face shifts suddenly to thought, and then she deflates a little, looking uncertain. She chews the inside of her bottom lip, conflicted about what she wants to ask. She gulps a little, and decides to bite the bullet. "You know him better than I do. I--Is Yamcha… that nice to everyone?"

Bulma nods, a smile of fondness spreading across her lips. "Yeah. He's a great guy like that." Then Bulma notices the defeated look on Kaki's face. Her smile turns knowing and lopsided, and she eventually gives Kaki a shrug. "But, you know… He tends to bend further backwards for the people he likes most."

Kaki stares at Bulma for a moment, her expression relaxing slightly in surprise. Then she crosses her arms, and her ankles, her gaze drifting down to the tiles on the floor. Her mind fluttered, images of that sunny afternoon in the garden and sharing stifled grins in the evening flashing from her memory. She particularly recalled her talk with Yamcha the night before, and what he told her just before she hung up. _You've got a nice laugh, y'know,_ he said. Just thinking of his words made her stomach flip, but in an oddly good way. It had been a while, she realizes, since she felt anything like that. And she wasn't sure if it was a good thing just yet.

"What's up?" Bulma says, sounding slightly concerned.

Kaki shakes her head. "Nothing. I was just-- It's nothing."

"Well, I gotta go. I've got paperwork to do. Blegh," Bulma says, rolling her eyes a little. 

"Oh. Okay," Kaki says. "I hope you have a good rest of your day, then."

Bulma returns the phrase in kind and turns on her heel. But before she completely leaves the kitchen, she glances at Kaki from over her shoulder. "Hey, maybe you should take a day. I know you don't really have anything better to do, but you've been working yourself to death in the gravity room. Relax or something."

Kaki is once again suddenly aware of how much her eyes burn. She idly rubs at her blind eye, trying to relieve the tiredness if just for a moment. "I… I think I will. Thank you, Bulma."

Then she is left alone in the kitchen, feeling drained, and the silence beginning to drone in her ears again. Kaki rubs at her eyes for a couple of moments again before deciding to go back to her room, maybe to sleep. Hopefully. She plods back to her room, finally feeling the effects of not sleeping wash over her. When she’s inside she gently kicks off her shoes and blinks tiredly, and then begins to step toward her bed. 

She halts before the mirror that hangs above the dresser, catching something familiar and paralyzing from the corner of her eye. She knew exactly who it was that stared back at her from behind her reflection. She knew it wasn’t real, that _he_ wasn’t real, because he was dead, and she knew he was dead because she saw him. But that didn’t make her visions any less terrifying, even after the first few times this same thing had happened. With her throat tight and her heart racing, she turns her head a little, and winces back at the sight of piercing gold eyes and a malicious smirk flashing at her. Then, when she opens her eyes again, he’s gone just as soon as she’d seen him. 

On the dresser sat a familiar box, with it’s decorative ribbon placed neatly beside it. She reaches for it and removes the top. Inside were the cactus candies that she’d gotten from Yamcha two weeks back, the contents of which were already half gone. She stares at them for a long moment, and slowly takes one in her fingers. 

Her gaze rises to her reflection in the mirror. She looked just as tired as she felt. 

She puts the candy in her mouth and chews.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! i thought that since this is a kaki-centric chapter i would share some art i drew of her while i was writing this chapter lmao you can see it here  
> https://twitter.com/fufflebutt/status/1349753909133398016?s=20


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